DispatchHealth, Saint Francis Health System Launch New Hospital-at-Home Program
•February 7, 2026
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Why It Matters
The program delivers cost‑effective, hospital‑level care at home, expanding access in rural markets and reducing traditional hospital overhead. It underscores the accelerating shift toward home‑based acute care after major industry consolidation.
Key Takeaways
- •Program treats 5‑6 patients, capacity for 40 daily
- •Targets rural Oklahoma, 20‑mile service radius
- •Low‑capital alternative to building new hospital beds
- •DispatchHealth merged with Medically Home, restructuring underway
- •Aims to serve 60% non‑Tulsa patients locally
Pulse Analysis
The hospital‑at‑home model has moved from niche experiments to mainstream adoption, driven by rising healthcare costs and patient demand for comfort‑centered care. Studies show comparable outcomes to inpatient stays, with lower infection rates and shorter recovery times. Providers are leveraging telemedicine, remote monitoring, and mobile clinical teams to replicate the hospital environment, positioning home‑based acute care as a strategic lever for cost containment and quality improvement across the industry.
In Oklahoma, DispatchHealth’s partnership with Saint Francis Health System operationalizes this trend. The joint venture staffs a virtual unit capable of handling up to 40 patients, while on‑site teams visit homes at least twice daily, delivering medications, meals, and personal care. By focusing on a 20‑mile radius around Tulsa, the program balances rapid response times with the logistical challenges of serving a dispersed rural population. Early capacity metrics—five to six active patients and 30‑50 eligible daily—demonstrate scalability potential without the capital outlay required for new brick‑and‑mortar beds.
The rollout signals broader market implications. Following DispatchHealth’s merger with Medically Home, the combined entity is reshaping the competitive landscape, consolidating expertise while trimming excess capacity. Successful execution in Oklahoma could accelerate similar deployments in other underserved regions, prompting hospitals to consider home‑based alternatives as a core component of their service lines. For payers and policymakers, the model offers a pathway to lower total cost of care while preserving quality, potentially redefining reimbursement structures and influencing future healthcare delivery standards.
DispatchHealth, Saint Francis Health System Launch New Hospital-at-Home Program
As part of their joint venture, DispatchHealth and Saint Francis Health System have launched a new hospital-at-home program.
The model is designed to either substitute an entire hospital stay or part of a hospital stay, allowing patients to recover in their own home. Both sides of the venture aim to expand the program to provide more hospital-level care at home for rural and underserved areas.
“For us, it’s a way to expand access for this new level of care at a really low capital investment in comparison to new bed towers – which we’re also opening and expanding for those that need to be transferred in from the region for a higher level of care, while at the same time extending our mission into the home for those that really don’t necessarily need to be in the brick and mortar setting,” Meg Zacks, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Saint Francis Health System, told Home Health Care News. “So for us it’s an opportunity to grow, improve outcomes and ultimately improve the health of eastern Oklahoma, and the total cost of care to serve that population.”
Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Saint Francis is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system with over 12,000 employees.
The opt-in hospital-at-home program is currently staffed to treat five to six patients, with plans to grow. Two Saint Francis campuses are involved in the program, and on any given day, roughly 30 to 50 patients would be eligible for hospital-level care at home, and the model’s virtual unit was built to be able to handle approximately 40 patients.
As part of the program, workers explain how hospital-level care at home works, assist with transportation to patients’ homes, set up technology that enables 24/7 communication with their care teams and provide in-person care in patients’ homes.
“We are sending teams to home at minimum twice daily, but in some cases, much more than that, to deliver and assess that treatment and how their response to treatment is going,” Pippa Shulman, chief medical officer of hospital-at-home operator DispatchHealth, told HHCN. “And if patients need extra support for personal care, we can also provide that as well. Patients are offered meals, so all the things that you would get in the brick and mortar hospital, you get in the comfort and safety of your own home, where people really want to heal.”
DispatchHealth is among the most prominent providers of hospital-at-home services. Founded in 2013, the company provides care across 20 states. In June 2025, the provider merged with Medically Home, another major hospital-at-home player. Following the merger, DispatchHealth restructured its operations, laying off some workers, exiting one market and changing service offerings in nine others.
The clinical care for hospital-at-home services is the same for facility-based care, Shulman said, but it requires that clinicians know how to take care of patients in the home. When expanding to a new market, DispatchHealth works to ensure the care ecosystem works seamlessly.
“We are really excited to partner with St Francis Health, because of the opportunity for patients in rural and underserved areas,” Shulman said. “I believe that we’ll be able to expand with Saint Francis as they’re getting experience in the model, and as patients are getting used to this kind of care. It may require us to come up with new ways that we are expanding to more far-flung areas.”
These new methods could include workforce considerations that enable whole care teams to operate in rural environments, Shulman said.
The program is initially focused on a 20-mile radius around the Tulsa metro area, which equates to a 30-minute drive for medical teams to visit patients’ homes.
In the long term, Saint Francis sees an opportunity to expand the program to provide hospital-at-home services in rural communities.
“We have 60% of our patients that come from outside of Tulsa County that could potentially be able to receive this level of care in their local community,” Zacks said. “But that would be a long-term vision for us.”
The post DispatchHealth, Saint Francis Health System Launch New Hospital-at-Home Program appeared first on Home Health Care News.
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