Hospital at home program halting as Medicare waiver ends

On any given day, dozens of patients waiting for hospital rooms line the hallways of the emergency department at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s University Campus. It’s one reason the Worcester-based health system dove into delivering home hospital care four years ago.

But on Saturday, UMass stopped admitting patients into its hospital at home program as leaders anticipated lawmakers in Washington may not hit a Tuesday deadline to reauthorize the program. UMass cares for about 20 patients per day in its home hospital, and losing the beds will put additional strain on its overcrowded facilities.

“The thing that I think gives us as a health system a fair amount of terror, and I use the word terror intentionally: We need to care for our community,” said Constantinos Michaelidis, the health