Remote Monitoring Enables High-Level Care at Home

Tony Slonim, MD, DrPH, president and CEO, Renown Health

The current pandemic is pushing the boundaries for parity when it comes to telemedicine reimbursement. How long will it be before the entire health care system repositions itself to provide hospital-level care for patients at home through ongoing remote monitoring?

That’s what Tony Slonim has been working toward since he took the helm seven years ago as president and CEO of Renown Health in Reno, Nevada. Slonim, MD, DrPH, is a quadruple board-certified pediatric intensivist with a doctorate in public health, which gives him unique insight into the community health needs he oversees.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the needs of this community’s patients and families brought many issues surrounding home care to the forefront of Renown’s approach to population health.

Hospital-level home care is part of the population health model Slonim has been building at Renown, which is among a small number of health care systems offering their own insurance plans. Renown’s Hometown Health is a local, not-for-profit insurance provider. This, he says, allows the network to tackle community health barriers in a way that the industry standard cannot.

“Our business model is all about population health and wellness. Our doctors are on a salary. They get paid regardless of what the patient goes through,” says Slonim. “How they take home a paycheck is a very different model compared to doctors who get paid for encounter-based care.”

“There is compelling evidence that well-monitored at-home treatment can be safer, less expensive, and more effective than traditional hospital stays, especially for patients who are elderly, frail, or vulnerable to complications,” says Slonim.

Learn more: The Case for Hospital-Level Home Care

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President