Rural hospital’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare program closes care gaps
MIH team at Monadnock Community Hospital
(Photo courtesy of MCH)
Monadnock Community Hospital’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program is closing care gaps in the rural community of Peterborough, N.H., and the eastern Monadnock region. The 25-bed critical access hospital launched MIH in 2020, and the team now includes two board-certified community paramedics who provide care in patients’ homes, plus a project manager, dispatcher and medical director. Patients give the MIH program high marks for quality of care, promptness, ease of scheduling, and respect and compassion shown by the providers.
As a hospital-based program, the MIH team at MCH offers health care services beyond those provided by a traditional paramedic. The MCH community paramedics collect all types of laboratory specimens, place Foley catheters, address wound care, evaluate home safety, provide health education, administer immunizations and medications, and manage medical equipment needed for chronic health issues. The team also can help facilitate a patient’s telehealth visit with their primary care physician — “being [the PCP’s] eyes, ears and hands” — by obtaining vital signs, laboratory samples and other information that a standard telehealth visit doesn’t provide.
The hospital emphasizes its MIH program is “not a substitute for home health care, emergency medical services or any other service” available in the community. Instead, the team works in collaboration with those organizations “to ensure services are not duplicated and to prevent gaps within services.”
Another part of the MIH program at MCH is Cradle Monadnock, launching in 2025. Anyone giving birth at MCH is automatically enrolled in this program but can opt out anytime. The MIH team makes pre- and post-delivery home visits to evaluate the health of the mother and newborn, connect families to essential community resources and social support, and offer practical advice and health education — such as discussing safe sleeping practices for babies and age-appropriate development — all of which helps parents “navigate the challenges of early parenthood.”