Dr. Bruce Leff

Dr. Bruce Leff, Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, is the Principal Investigator for the Hospital at Home Program. He has directed the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Hospital at Home and is currently focused on dissemination of the model into the US healthcare system

“As a medical resident and fellow in geriatric medicine I had wonderful experiences caring for homebound older patients in Baltimore in a house call program. Providing longitudinal care in the home is what turned me into a real doctor – I learned how to really take a history, do a physical examination, develop meaningful differential diagnoses and management plans. Several of my patients developed acute conditions such as pneumonia, heart attacks, and heart failure and would routinely refuse to allow me to admit them to the hospital. Somehow we were able to manage them at home and they did well. On the other hand, other patients of mine seemed to have a terrible time in the hospital, developing many complications simply because they were hospitalized – delirium, bed sores, functional decline. Hospitals are absolutely necessary, but not necessarily for everyone with all acute illnesses. Hospital at Home has the potential to deliver better care at lower costs for many people.”

“The standard academic model of developing and publishing data is not sufficient to insure the adoption and dissemination of health service delivery models.”