Hospital-at-Home (HaH) Programs: Opportunities and Considerations for Non-Medical Home Care Providers
Published on August 8, 2025 by Dan Wenger
As healthcare continues to shift from traditional settings into the community, one model gaining traction is Hospital-at-Home (HaH). Initially accelerated by necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, HaH has since evolved into a longer-term strategic priority for many health systems across the U.S.
For non-medical home care providers, this shift opens up exciting new opportunities.
Just as programs like PACE, CCaH, and MLTSS have opened doors for home care agency participation in broader care ecosystems, HaH represents another pathway to enhance service offerings, forge lasting partnerships with hospitals, and play an indispensable role in delivering high-quality personal care services to seniors in their homes.
In this article, we explore how the growing Hospital-at-Home (HaH) movement is creating new partnership opportunities for non-medical home care providers. You’ll learn how your agency can contribute to HaH models, what it takes to prepare operationally, and how platforms like Aaniie Care (formerly Smartcare Software) can help you meet participating hospitals’ expectations with confidence.
What is the Hospital-at-Home program?
The Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative (AHCAH) — launched in 2020 — gave hospitals the flexibility to provide hospital-level care to eligible patients in their homes.
While originally set to expire at the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress has extended the CMS waiver for Hospital-at-Home (HaH) programs several times since 2022.
As of August 2025, 400 hospitals across 142 systems and 39 states have been approved to provide Hospital-at-Home services, and CMS data indicates ongoing growth and interest. Many states, including North Carolina, have even implemented their own Medicaid billing guidance to expand access further.
The HaH model enables physicians, skilled medical staff, and coordinated care teams to work together to monitor, treat, and care for medium acuity patients at home rather than in a hospital setting — often with the additional support of technologies like remote monitoring and virtual visits.
Health systems and hospitals see HaH programs as a safe, effective way to care for these patients in the comfort of their homes — and there is a growing body of literature to support this view.
The model is gaining momentum for several compelling reasons:
- Improved patient outcomes, including lower rates of complications and readmission rates
- High patient and family satisfaction, thanks to care delivered in familiar, comfortable environments
- Cost savings for both hospitals and patients
- Reduced burden on hospital capacity, especially during peak demand
Enabled by advances in telehealth, mobile diagnostics, and remote patient monitoring, HaH is now more feasible and scalable than ever. But delivering safe, effective care at home goes beyond clinical oversight — and that’s where non-medical home care providers can play a powerful supporting role.
The role of non-medical home care agencies in HaH programs
While physicians, nurses, and other clinical professionals lead the medical side of Hospital-at-Home programs, many essential aspects of care fall outside their scope. This is where non-medical home care providers can step in to bridge the gap — as vital collaborators, supporting not only the patient and their family members but also the rest of the care team.
Here are just some of the ways agencies can position themselves as indispensable partners in hospital-level care delivered at home:
Assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs)
Helping clients with personal care tasks like bathing, dressing, toileting, and personal hygiene — all fundamental to maintaining dignity, comfort, and well-being.
Mobility support and fall prevention
Assisting with mobility and safe transfers to prevent falls, promote independence, and reduce the risk of injury or hospital readmission.
Home safety monitoring and environmental setup
Assessing the home environment and ensuring it supports safe recovery by identifying and mitigating hazards, arranging furniture, and assisting with mobility aids and accessibility tools.
Medication reminders and adherence support
Helping patients stay on track with prescribed medications through gentle prompts and supervision, reducing the risk of missed doses, accidental overdoses, or confusing one medication for another.
Companionship and emotional reassurance
Offering presence, conversation, and emotional support through companionship care that contributes to patients’ overall mental health and a more positive recovery experience.
Meal preparation and feeding assistance
Supporting nutritional needs with appropriate meals and assisting patients who require help with eating or hydration.
Family support and education
Guiding families through new routines, helping them understand the patient’s care needs, and offering encouragement and reassurance. In addition, providing respite care for family caregivers, allowing them to take breaks and recharge as needed.
Facilitating communication between clients, families, and healthcare providers
Helping to ensure that everyone involved in the patient’s care plan stays informed, aligned, and empowered to participate and coordinate effectively.
Together, these services help create a stable, supportive home environment where medical professionals can deliver hospital-level care with greater efficiency and peace of mind. Non-medical caregivers essentially fill the gaps between clinical interventions, making the home a truly functional extension of the hospital.
For agencies already experienced in senior home care, these roles are a natural extension of the day-to-day services they’re already providing — but within HaH programs, they carry even greater strategic importance as part of a collaborative, hospital-led care model.
Strategic opportunities for senior home care agencies
Hospital-at-Home programs aren’t just changing where care happens — they’re reshaping how care is delivered, coordinated, and valued across the entire senior care ecosystem.
By aligning with HaH programs, agencies can unlock several compelling benefits, including:
Stronger hospital partnerships
Hospitals are actively seeking trusted senior care partners to support safe patient recovery at home. Agencies that can demonstrate reliability, flexibility, and a solid understanding of HaH requirements will be well-positioned to build these referral-based relationships.
Expanded referral streams
As HaH programs scale, they bring with them new sources of referrals — not just from hospitals, but also from care coordinators, discharge planners, and accountable care organizations (ACOs) that are prioritizing home-based solutions.
Increased revenue opportunities
Expanding your role within the care plan allows for more hours of service, longer care engagements, and greater client retention — all of which contribute to a more sustainable revenue model.
Service diversification
Participation in HaH programs encourages agencies to enhance caregiver training, adopt new technology, and formalize communication protocols — all of which can improve the overall quality and scope of your services, whether through HaH collaboration or traditional private pay services.
Market differentiation
As HaH continues to grow, agencies that are prepared to support these models will stand out in a crowded market. Positioning your business as a proactive, collaborative care partner can help attract other hospitals, families, and private clients alike.
A central role in the future of home-based care
Perhaps most importantly, getting involved in HaH programs puts your agency at the forefront of modern senior care delivery — helping shape a system that keeps more older adults safely and comfortably at home.
This isn’t just about keeping up — it’s about leveling up. By building the capacity to support Hospital-at-Home models, agencies can evolve from service providers to integral partners in modern healthcare delivery.
Operational readiness for HaH: How to prepare your home care agency for success
Participating in Hospital-at-Home (HaH) programs isn’t simply a matter of showing up — it requires intentional preparation, operational readiness, and a willingness to adapt.
Home care agencies that want to play a credible, consistent role within these models must take steps to ensure they can meet expectations from hospital partners, clinical teams, and clients and their families.
Key areas your agency should focus on include:
1. Caregiver training for more complex environments
While caregivers won’t be delivering clinical care, they may be working in homes where clients have active IVs, oxygen tanks, or are under continuous monitoring.
Make sure your team is trained on how to navigate these settings confidently and safely — including recognizing red flags, reporting concerns promptly, reinforcing clinical care instructions appropriately, and maintaining a calm, confident presence in medically complex situations.
2. Technology readiness and digital literacy
HaH programs often involve remote monitoring tools, mobile documentation, and real-time communication between care teams.
Ensure caregivers are comfortable using smartphones or tablets, secure messaging apps, and basic telehealth interfaces when necessary. You’ll also need to assess whether your agency’s internal tech stack can easily handle streamlined coordination across care teams, including real-time updates and secure data sharing.
3. Clear, standardized documentation
Timely and structured reporting is critical in HaH models. Hospitals need accurate records of what’s happening between clinical visits.
Establish clear documentation protocols to log caregiver observations, completed tasks, and changes in condition. This minimizes gaps in care and supports transparent communication across teams.
Make sure all your agency’s processes are streamlined and that your documentation is legible, structured, and readily shareable with external stakeholders.
4. Protocols for collaboration
Hospital-at-Home programs rely on seamless coordination between clinical and non-clinical care providers. To be a true care partner, your agency must operate as part of a larger interdisciplinary team — not in parallel to it.
Create clear collaboration protocols that define how caregivers share updates, escalate concerns, respond to emergencies, and engage with medical teams, clients, and families. Clarity here builds confidence with healthcare partners and helps avoid gaps in care.
5. Risk management and liability awareness
Supporting higher-acuity patients at home may expose your caregivers to more complex situations than they are used to, affecting safety, supervision, and liability.
Review your agency’s insurance policies, incident response plans, and supervisory frameworks to ensure they’re suitable for the demands of Hospital-at-Home care. You need to ensure staff feel confident, protected, and supported in these roles. Caregiver safety is just as important as patient safety in these settings.
6. Scheduling agility and team coordination
HaH patients often require more intensive or time-sensitive visits that need to be carefully coordinated with medical staff schedules and aligned with recovery milestones.
Your agency will need to be equipped with scheduling tools that allow for real-time updates, quick changes, and informed handovers to prevent coverage gaps in care, especially where multiple providers are working in tandem.
7. Streamlined billing and payroll processes
Stepping into a more formal role within HaH programs means professional billing and payroll operations become even more important. Agencies need to be able to provide itemized invoicing, support different payer models, and ensure timely caregiver compensation.
Evaluate whether your current billing and payroll systems can support this level of reporting and flexibility — and look for tools that automate and simplify the process.
By taking the time to strengthen these core areas, your agency can position itself as a dependable care partner ready to support HaH programs. It’s not about reinventing your operations — it’s about refining them to meet the rising standard for modern home-based care delivery.
The good news? Much of this preparedness can be simplified through the right technology — including scheduling, documentation, communication, and caregiver readiness tools that fully support accountability and collaboration.
The smart way to prepare: Aaniie for HaH-ready agencies
While it’s possible to piece together different tools to address agency HaH-readiness — scheduling software here, documentation tools there — the smartest, most scalable approach is to invest in an all-in-one platform designed for personal care services in the non-medical home care industry.
Aaniie Care (formerly Smartcare Software) equips your agency with everything needed to participate confidently in Hospital-at-Home partnerships, including:
- Real-time scheduling and caregiver coordination tools to ensure timely, consistent, uninterrupted care
- Secure caregiver communications via a mobile app that supports team collaboration while maintaining HIPAA compliance
- Custom digital forms to meet hospital-level documentation expectations and tailor reporting to clinical requirements
- Built-in training resources and caregiver readiness tracking to ensure your team is well-prepared for higher-acuity home environments
- Audit trails, alerts, and incident reporting to help manage risk and uphold accountability
- Billing, payment, and payroll processing that support transparent invoicing, accurate caregiver payments, and alignment with hospital billing protocols
- KPI dashboards and performance reports to track service delivery and caregiver activity, and share reliable, high-quality data
- Integration with senior living platforms, such as PointClickCare, to increase your personal care service lines and business opportunities
By streamlining operations and raising your professional profile, Aaniie helps your agency meet the moment — with the systems and confidence to match.
Seizing the HaH moment
For home care agencies, the window of opportunity is open now. Those who prepare, adapt, and align with hospital partners can step into a more valuable, visible role in the care continuum.
Aaniie Care is here to support that transformation. So, if you’re ready to strengthen your operations and lead the way in home-based care, let’s start the conversation.