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In November of last year, UVA Health launched the Patient Hoteling Pilot program, which explored a creative way to support our patients along their care continuum. This pilot provided an option for patients who needed to stay close but no longer required to be admitted to the hospital, which faces capacity challenges daily due to COVID-19. 

Many of our patients travel far to UVA Health and sometimes require follow-up or additional care shortly after discharge. To help ease the stress and burden of travel and to provide continued access to care, UVA Health partnered with Homewood Suites to provide rooms for patients who face these challenges. This pilot, which ran for 60 days, was modeled after a program running in Transplant and Oncology and supports providers in discharging medically appropriate patients to the hotel after assessing their psychosocial, economic, and support needs. Over the course of the two-month program, a total of 26 patient days were avoided.

“Homewood Suites is a fabulous community partner,” says Amy Schmidt-Morris, Operations Specialist, Transplant Services. “They truly treat our patients like they are part of their family.”

The process to access the hotel rooms is simple, says Schmidt-Morris. “If there is a patient who is medically appropriate for discharge and does not require any kind of clinical support but, for various reasons — like late discharge, distance to home, or if they have a follow-up appointment the day after discharge — if these would cause undue stress on the patient and likely add to their length of stay, they may be eligible to use the hotel.”

Providing Both Clinical and Humanitarian Support

While the pilot supports clinical initiatives, the other aspect of this program is humanitarian. “We also support families who are unable to get into the Hospitality House because it's full or do not meet the recommended guidelines,” says Schmidt-Morris. “It’s an extension of how we support our patients.”

When asked what her favorite part of the program is, Schmidt Morris says, “It’s twofold. Making sure that patients are provided access to the care they desperately need, but also providing clinical teams with a resource to support their patient in a time when resources have been limited and pushed in other directions.”

A patient who benefitted from the hotel this winter recently wrote a note to UVA Health, saying, “I can't thank you enough for all of your help with getting my uncle and I this room. We didn't get checked in until late, but it was so nice to have a wonderful place to go rest for the evening. Please let all involved with this pilot program, to keep up their great work. The both of us truly appreciate all that was done for us to have a place to stay.”

60-Day Pilot Granted 6-Month Extension

Schmidt-Morris says that the pilot was successful enough that UVA Health has extended the contract with Homewood Suites through June 2021. 

“Having this resource available at no cost to the patient is a truly wonderful addition,” she says. “Patients know that when traveling to UVA for their care they will be treated with kindness and respect. Their access to care does not stop when they leave the facility. This partnership and collaboration with our patients are what sets us apart. Allowing patients to continue their plan of care and alleviate the stressors of travel and lodging — that is the definition of patient-family-centered care”

If you want more information or think your patient could benefit from this program, download the flyer or contact Amy Schmidt-Morris at asm3wk@virginia.edu or 434.243.3951 (office) or 443.834.8989 (cell).

Thank you to Schmidt-Morris and others who helped make this program possible, including Wendy Horton, PharmD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Medical Center; Reid Adams, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Chair of Surgery; Alan Matsumoto, MD, Chair and Theodore E. Keats Professor of Radiology; and Rob Teaster, RN, MBA, Administrator, Transplant Services.