In new models for care, seniors look at co-housing options while patients elsewhere get hospital care at home

Some elderly residents of North Carolina are exploring co-housing options to avoid having to leave their homes. Meanwhile, in a few spots health leaders are instituting the "hospital at home" concept.

North Carolina Health News: Aging In Place: NC Seniors Are Shaping Their Futures
Some elder North Carolinians are looking for ways to insure they never have to leave their own homes, that means exploring alternatives. One option is co-housing, a concept growing in popularity across the country with families and single adults of all ages. In co-housing environments, residents commit to living as a community and take an active role in designing and maintaining that community (Sisk, 5/30).

Kaiser Health News: Some Patients Can Choose To Be Hospitalized At Home
"Hospital at home" programs fundamentally refashion care for chronically ill patients who have acute medical problems -- testing traditional notions of how services should be delivered when people become seriously ill.  Only a handful of such initiatives exist, including the Albuquerque program, run by Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and programs in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Boise, Idaho, and New Orleans offered through the Veterans Health Administration (Graham, 5/29).