DispatchHealth and Saint Francis Health System have launched a new hospital-at-home program as part of a joint venture.
This model is designed to replace all or part of a hospital stay and allow patients to recover at home. Both parties in this venture aim to expand the program to provide more hospital-quality care in the home to rural and underserved areas.
“For us, this is a way to expand access to this new level of care at a very low capital investment compared to a new bed tower. We're also opening and expanding this bed tower for patients who need to be transferred out of the community for a higher level of care, while at the same time extending our mission into the home for patients who don't necessarily need to actually be in a brick-and-mortar location,” Meg Zacks, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Saint Francis Health System, told Home Healthcare News. “So for us, this is an opportunity to grow, improve outcomes and ultimately improve the health of eastern Oklahoma and the total cost of care to serve that population.”
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, St. Francis is a Catholic nonprofit health system with more than 12,000 employees.
The opt-in home-based program is currently staffed to treat five to six patients and plans to expand. St. Francis' two campuses are participating in the program, with approximately 30 to 50 patients eligible for hospital-level care in their homes each day, and the model's virtual unit is built to handle approximately 40 patients.
As part of the program, staff will explain how hospital-level home care works, assist in transporting patients to their homes, set up technology that allows for 24/7 communication with care teams, and provide in-person care in patients' homes.
“We send teams into the home at least twice a day to provide and assess care, and sometimes more, to assess how patients are responding to treatment,” Pippa Schulman, chief medical officer at home hospital operator Dispatch Health, told HHCN. “And if a patient needs additional support with personal care, we can provide that as well. Patients will be provided with meals, so they can get everything they would get in a brick-and-mortar hospital in the comfort and safety of their home, where people really want to heal.”
DispatchHealth is one of the most well-known providers of home hospital services. Founded in 2013, the company provides care across 20 states. In June 2025, the provider merged with Medically Home, another leading home hospital company. After the merger, DispatchHealth restructured its operations, laid off some employees, exited one market, and changed its offerings in nine other markets.
Shulman said clinical care for hospital home services is the same as facility-based care, but clinicians need to know how to care for patients at home. As we expand into new markets, DispatchHealth strives to ensure the care ecosystem functions seamlessly.
“We are really excited to partner with St. Francis Health because of the opportunities for patients in rural and underserved areas,” Schulman said. “As St. Francis gains experience with this model and our patients become accustomed to this type of care, we believe we can work together to expand. We may need to devise new ways to expand into more remote areas.”
These new methods may include workforce considerations to allow the entire care team to operate in rural settings, Schulman said.
The program will initially focus on a 20-mile radius around the Tulsa metropolitan area, which equates to a 30-minute drive for a medical team to visit a patient's home.
In the long term, St. Francis sees an opportunity to expand its program of providing home health services in rural areas.
“Sixty percent of our patients come from outside of Tulsa County, and they may be able to receive this level of care in their community,” Zacks said. “But it will be a long-term vision for us.”
