Sarah Schenck, M.D., FACP

Executive Director for ChristianaCare's Center for Virtual Health ChristianaCare

Wilmington DE

Dr. Sarah Schenck is an expert in practice transformation for Primary Care and leads ChristianaCare's COVID-19 Virtual Practice.

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Spotlight

Apr 30, 2024

3 min

‘A Completely Different Kind of Medicine'— Healing With Families, Pets and Comfort Through Hospital Care at Home

The ChristianaCare Hospital Care at Home program, a national leader in providing acute care in a place most familiar to patients – their own homes – has reached a new milestone with more than 1,000 admissions since opening in December 2021. ChristianaCare’s innovative program enables patients with common chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure and diabetes complications, as well as infections like pneumonia, to receive hospital-level care at home through virtual and in-person care provided by a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, paramedics and others. Technology kits deployed to patient homes ensure round-the-clock access to a health care professional, along with twice daily visits from caregivers, medication deliveries and mobile laboratory services. ‘Absolutely amazing’ for patients Patients are evaluated for the hospital care at home program when they come to Wilmington or Christiana hospital emergency departments. Those who can be treated at home receive a technology kit that connects them to the command center, powered by the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health. With a touch of a button, they can access an expert team of ChristianaCare doctors and nurses. But hospital care at home isn’t just virtual care — the technology supports an entire care team that works inside the patient’s home and remotely to provide optimal support at all times — just like in a hospital. Carol Bieber, whose 98-year-old father Bill has been a hospital care at home patient, sees the difference it makes for him to wake up in his own bed, sit in his own living room and still get the care he needs to get better. “The whole hospital care at home experience is really calm and easy and familiar to him,” said Bieber, who lives in Newark, Delaware. “My dad is a people person, so to be able to connect with everybody who comes in to see him or talk to him on the screen is just amazing.” Innovative solutions for in-home care ChristianaCare’s Hospital Care at Home program was developed in 2021 after the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) began the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program to allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive acute-level health care services in their home. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, who represents Delaware, worked to pass the bipartisan “Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act” in 2023 that extended this program. Last month. Sen. Carper introduced the bipartisan “At-Home Observation and Medical Evaluation (HOME) Services Act” that would expand this lifesaving and cost-saving program. “Hospital at Home – which grew out of the COVID pandemic – was an opportunity for us to meet seniors where they are,” Carper said. “It has delivered positive outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and saves money.” Sarah Schenck, M.D., FACP, executive director of the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health, said the hospital care at home program has yielded lower readmission rates than brick-and-mortar hospitals. Patient experience scores are about three times higher than a national average traditional hospital experience. “We’ve been conditioned to believe that care only happens within the four walls of a hospital. For our patients who have loved ones at home or their pets, a favorite chair or favorite food, they’re now able to have all of that as they heal,” Schenck said. “Once our patients have experienced this, what we hear from them is that they are truly grateful.” Promoting healing – at home Helping patients recover in their homes also has been transformational for caregivers who get to see a different side of their patients and better understand what they need to successfully recover. “I can’t express how much I enjoy the patients and their families,” said Heather Orkis, a paramedic with Hospital Care at Home. “To be able to enjoy the family and see these people get better in their own homes, with their families, their grandkids, their dogs, their cats – it’s just a completely different kind of medicine.” For Bill Bieber’s family, hospital care at home is more than health care. “It’s just the best thing ever,” Carol Bieber said.

Mar 28, 2024

4 min

ChristianaCare Celebrates Milestone of More Than 1,000 Patient Admissions in Innovative Hospital Care at Home Program

The ChristianaCare Hospital Care at Home program, a national leader in providing acute care in a place most familiar to patients – their own homes – has reached a new milestone with more than 1,000 admissions since opening in December 2021. ChristianaCare’s innovative program enables patients with common chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure and diabetes complications, as well as infections like pneumonia, to receive hospital-level care at home through virtual and in-person care provided by a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, paramedics and others. Technology kits deployed to patient homes ensure round-the-clock access to a health care professional, along with twice daily visits from caregivers, medication deliveries and mobile laboratory services. “This program is a wonderful example of how ChristianaCare is building a better health care system and meeting people’s health care needs through innovation, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to providing the very best care for the people we serve,” said Janice E. Nevin, M.D., president and CEO of ChristianaCare. “We are proud to be at the forefront of hospital care at home nationally, through the collaboration with leaders like Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, who has championed this new model of care at the federal level; Medically Home, which partnered with ChristianaCare to help us design a program that best meets the needs of the communities we serve; and our own health professionals – we call them caregivers – whose expert care and coordination make this all possible. Together, we are creating health so that people can flourish.” ‘Just amazing’ for patients Patients are evaluated for the hospital care at home program when they come to Wilmington or Christiana hospital emergency departments. Those who can be treated at home receive a technology kit that connects them to the command center, powered by the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health. With a touch of a button, they can access an expert team of ChristianaCare doctors and nurses. But hospital care at home isn’t just virtual care—the technology supports an entire care team that works inside the patient’s home and remotely to provide optimal support at all times—just like in a hospital. Patients connect with their health care team with just the touch of a button. Carol Bieber, whose 98-year-old father, Bill, has been a hospital care at home patient, sees the difference it makes for him to wake up in his own bed, sit in his own living room and still get the care he needs to get better. "The whole hospital care at home experience is really calm and easy and familiar to him," said Bieber, who lives in Newark. “My dad is a people person, so to be able to connect with everybody who comes in to see him or talk to him on the screen is just amazing.” Innovative solutions for in-home care ChristianaCare’s Hospital Care at Home program was developed in 2021 after the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) began the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program to allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive acute-level health care services in their home. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, who represents Delaware, worked to pass the bipartisan Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act in 2023 that extended this program. Last month. Sen. Carper introduced the bipartisan At Home Observation and Medical Evaluation (HOME) Services Act that would expand this lifesaving and cost-saving program. “Hospital at Home – which grew out of the COVID pandemic – was an opportunity for us to meet seniors where they are,” Sen. Carper said. “It has delivered positive outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and saves money. That is why when this program was about to go away with the end of the COVID public health emergency, I joined my colleagues across the aisle to extend the program for two more years. Today, especially as we celebrate the success of the program in Delaware with ChristianaCare, I’m encouraged that we can further extend that program!” Sarah E. Schenck, M.D., FACP, executive director of the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health, said the hospital care at home program has yielded lower readmission rates than brick-and-mortar hospitals. In addition, patient experience scores are about three times higher than the national average for a traditional hospital experience. Options like Hospital Care at Home give patients the care they need in the space they want, said Dr. Sarah Schenck, executive director of ChristianaCare's Center for Virtual Health. “We’ve been conditioned to believe that care only happens within the four walls of a hospital. For our patients who have loved ones at home or their pets, a favorite chair or favorite food, they’re now able to have all of that as they heal,” Schenck said. “Once our patients have experienced this, what we hear from them is that they are truly grateful.” Promoting healing – at home Helping patients recover in their homes also has been transformational for caregivers who get to see a different side of their patients and better understand what they need to successfully recover. “I can’t express how much I enjoy the patients and their families,” said Heather Orkis, a paramedic with the hospital care at home program. Patients aren't the only ones who enjoy the experience of Hospital Care at Home so do the health care professionals who care for them. “To be able to enjoy the family and see these people get better in their own homes, with their families, their grandkids, their dogs, their cats – it’s just a completely different kind of medicine.” For Bill Bieber’s family, hospital care at home is more than health care. “It’s just the best thing ever,” Carol Bieber said. Families appreciate the frequent interactions with members of the Hospital Care at Home team.

Sep 22, 2023

3 min

Hospital at Home: Understanding How It Works

As the ChristianaCare Hospital Care at Home program grows, we see the benefits of improving the way we deliver care to our patients. With each patient we care for, we are reminded that a big part of recuperating and getting better is not just physical but mental and emotional. Being home allows patient to visit with loved ones, cuddle with pets and sleep in their own bed. It also helps our health care providers better understand a patient’s living environment, making it possible for us to provide the individual services they need. Q. What is hospital care at home? A. I think of a virtual hospital as three components: a command center, technology and in-home care. The command center is a 24/7, 365-daya-week center staffed by physicians, nurses, advanced practice clinicians and patient digital ambassadors. This team of health care providers is tethered to patients in the home by way of our technology. We give our patients a tablet that lists their daily schedule so they know who to expect in their home and the time our health care providers will arrive. It also allows them to contact the command center at any time by pressing a button. When they do that, a nurse appears on the screen right away. Edwin Bryson Sr. said ChristianaCare made it easy to treat his diabetes complications from the privacy and comfort of his own home. With hospital care at home, he said, “all I do is hit the button and a nurse comes on to assist me with anything I need. It was 24-hour service here, just like I was in the hospital.” Technology also allows us to monitor patients’ vital signs at home as we would in the traditional hospital setting. We use Bluetooth technology to upload that information into the electronic medical record. In-home care is made up of a team that goes into the home to deliver the services that a particular patient needs. This includes radiology (X-rays and ultrasound), blood tests, intravenous medications, physical therapy, occupational therapy and more. A licensed professional, such as a nurse, also visits the patient at home at least twice a day. Q. Who is eligible for hospital care at home? A. There are requirements for participation. Patients need to live within 25 miles from our Delaware hospital campuses which are in Newark and Wilmington. We also are looking for patients that meet our acute, inpatient level of care. So if they’re in observation status, for example, they wouldn’t be a good candidate. We also need patients who don’t require continuous monitoring: If a patient has telemetry monitoring or if they’re in the intensive care unit or a step-down unit, they would not be a good candidate. Our team works every day with caregivers at both Delaware hospitals to identify patients who would benefit from hospital care at home. Q. What are common sicknesses that can be treated at home? The first 20 patients we admitted into this program had 20 different diagnoses. But after treating more than 500 patients, the most common diagnoses that we see are cellulitis, sepsis, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation and congestive heart failure. Hospital at home may not be the solution for all patients, but in many cases it can help patients get better quicker and in a place where they most feel comfortable. As ChristianaCare strives for greater access to care, home may be where the health is.

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Biography

Dr. Sarah Schenck is the executive director for ChristianaCare’s Center for Virtual Health. A primary care physician with a track record of driving successful clinical care transformation, Dr. Schenck is an expert in delivering whole- person, patient- centered care within a team-based setting. Under Dr. Schenck’s leadership, ChristianaCare was the first health system in Delaware to earn certification as a multi-site Patient Centered Medical Home from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Dr. Schenck also has played a significant role during the COVID-19 pandemic, and currently serves as medical director for health system’s virtual COVID-19 practice, monoclonal antibodies COVID-19 treatment program, and virtual COVID-19 recovery clinic.

Areas of Expertise

Ambulatory Covid Care

Clinical Care Transformation

Virtual Health Care

Telemedicine

Internal Medicine

Medicine

Virtualist Medicine

Primary Care Delivery Reform

Digital Divide

Primary Care

Education

Thomas Jefferson University

M.D.

Sidney Kimmel Medical College

2000

University of Virginia

Bachelor's Degree

Echol's Scholar

1995

Multimedia

Links and Image Galleries

Media Appearances

The Future of Health Care is Here

Delaware Business Magazine print

2021-09-07

ChristianaCare’s Center for Virtual Health
BY SARAH SCHENCK, M.D., FACP
CHRISTIANACARE IS COMMITTED to serving our community, and that includes finding ways to remove the barriers that keep people from taking an active role in their own health.

Through our Center for Virtual Health, we are making it possible for our neighbors to get their medical care when and where it is most convenient for them—whether at home using a computer or mobile device, in a Community Access Point such as a local library, or even in their neighborhood, like the Kingswood Community Center in Wilmington.

THE POWER OF A TEAM

Telehealth with Dr. Sarah Schenck, Clinical Director of Practice Transformation for Primary Care and Community Medicine at ChristianaCare

WJBR Focus on the Delaware Valley radio

2021-01-04

Dr. Sarah Schenck, Internist and Clinical Director of Practice Transformation for Primary Care and Community Medicine at ChristianaCare, spoke on the future of telehealth for primary care, jumpstarted by COVID 19 restrictions. She discussed the system’s gradual adoption of telehealth prior to the pandemic, today all primary care providers have been trained to provide services for patient needs from general health care, medication renewals, mental health, and urgent care conditions, such as sinusitis, back pain, urinary tract infections and common rashes. She discussed the advantages of telehealth for treating chronic health conditions, and disease prevention. As an alternative to emergency room visits for non-emergency care, telehealth delivers considerable cost savings while removing barriers to care for low income patients. She also discussed the security and privacy built into the service. As Director of Community Medicine she described their efforts to reach underserved neighborhood, through outreach in community centers.

ChristianaCare develops telehealth Employee COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Testing Program for businesses and employers

PR Newswire online

2020-06-08

"Since the pandemic, the COVID-19 Virtual Practice and the CareVio team have provided invaluable support to patients, especially those who may not need hospitalization, but need monitoring at home to ensure they are managing their symptoms appropriately," said Sarah Schenck, M.D.