HITH is available to patients with conditions requiring clinical governance, monitoring and/or input that would otherwise require treatment in a traditional inpatient hospital bed. HITH is focused exclusively on substituting admitted patient care within a hospital setting to the ‘home’ setting of the patient governed by the authorised officer. HITH patients are regarded as hospital inpatients, therefore remain under the care of their governing hospital doctor.
Key principles of HITH in Queensland are:
HITH activity is interpreted as a substitute for admitted patient care and thereby attracts Activity Based Funding (ABF).
The service is free for eligible Queensland public hospital patients who consent and are eligible to transfer to HITH.
The Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection (QHAPDC) Manual, outlines HITH as an inpatient occasion of service and a continuous episode of care.
What Queensland HITH services deliver
- hospital substitution service – informed by the:
- Queensland Hospital in the Home (HITH) Guideline, to be read in conjunction with the following:
- HITH suggested key performance indicators/minimum data set
- Clinic-based Hospital in the Home: Block-funded facilities and Medical Services 3 and below
- Hospital in the Home: During a Pandemic
- Hospital in the Home: Standards of Care - outlines standards that define the type and quality of care to be provided by Queensland public HITH services
- Queensland Hospital in the Home (HITH) Guideline, to be read in conjunction with the following:
- inpatient equivalent care in a patient’s permanent or temporary residence – clinicians are fully qualified, nationally registered, highly skilled, and are experienced in addressing complex health needs and delivering acute care in a salient environment
- with most services offering access to allied health
Referral process and patient eligibility criteria
Please contact the relevant HITH service regarding referral processes.
Patient eligibility criteria:
- patient care can be safely provided and managed in the patient’s permanent or temporary residence - care settings can include, but are not limited to: residential aged care facilities, hotels, schools, boats, prison, boarding houses and places of work
- patients that without HITH would remain in hospital, and
- patients that require daily treatment and assessment.
Benefits to HITH patients
- safe, high quality acute care without needing to be in hospital
- greater choice in how and where care is received
- can remain in the comfort of familiar surroundings (i.e. their home)
- high satisfaction and positive health outcomes
- reduced risk of adverse events from hospital admission and re-presentation to emergency departments
Queensland Top 10 Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs) treated under HITH in 2022
