AP/Miami Herald Examines Physician House Calls

The number of physicians who make home visits still account for a very small percentage of all physicians nationwide, but experts say that the number has increased sharply in the last 10 years since CMS increased Medicare payments for home visits, the AP/Miami Herald reports. According to the AP/Herald, house calls by physicians until the early 1970s "was the norm," but the concept "died when medical insurance replaced pay-as-you-go, and administrative costs and malpractice insurance fees forced doctors to abandon individual practices and join together in groups."

The AP/Herald reports, "Now, doctors visiting the sick in their homes seems to be in vogue again." Advanced technologies and better equipment -- such as mobile blood tests, X-ray kits and portable devices and systems that relay digital photographs to specialists or store patient information safely -- also have made home visits easier for physicians. Steven Landers -- the medical director for home health care at Cleveland Clinic, who makes about 20 home visits each week to elderly and chronically ill patients -- said, "The real benefit is the access." Landers said, "You get to see people in their own environment," adding, "You learn things you wouldn't normally know."

However, private and public health insurance "typically doesn't pay for 'concierge' services," such as house calls, the AP/Herald reports. According to Constance Row, executive director of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians, the increase in physician house calls mostly has involved patients who are too frail or old to make the trip to a physician's office. She said, "This is one of these areas where the need has outstripped the capacity," adding, "There are more people who need the service than there are physicians who provide it" (Salter, AP/Miami Herald, 2/26).


Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.