Patient Perceptions of In-home Urgent Care via Mobile Integrated Health

OBJECTIVES: Emergency department (ED) crowding poses a severe public health threat, and identifying acceptable means of treating medical conditions in alternative sites of care is imperative. We compared patients' experiences with in-home urgent care via mobile integrated health (MIH) vs urgent care provided in EDs. STUDY DESIGN: Survey, completed on paper, online, or by telephone. We surveyed all patients who received MIH care for an urgent health problem (n = 443) and consecutive patients who visited EDs for urgent care (n = 1436). METHODS: Study participants were members of a managed care plan who were dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, 21 years or older, and treated either by MIH or in an ED for nonemergent conditions around Boston, Massachusetts, between February 2017 and June 2018. The survey assessed patients' perceptions of their urgent care experiences. RESULTS: A total of 206 patients treated by community paramedics and 718 patients treated in EDs completed surveys (estimated 66% and 62% response rates, respectively). Patients treated by MIH perceived higher quality care, more frequently reporting "excellent" (54.7%) or "very good" (32.4%) care compared with ED patients (40.7% and 24.3%, respectively; P < .0001), and were significantly more likely to report that decisions made about their care were "definitely right" compared with patients treated in the ED (66.1% vs 55.6%; P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Patients appear satisfied with receiving paramedic-delivered urgent care in their homes rather than EDs, perceiving higher-quality care. This suggests that in-home urgent care via MIH may be acceptable for patients with nonemergent conditions.