America needs to bring back the house call, according to researchers from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, who determined up to 4 million elderly Americans are homebound and missing out on needed care.
Researchers analyzed Medicare payment data from 2012 and 2013 to track home visits. They found roughly 5,000 providers made 1.7 million home visits to Medicare beneficiaries in 2013. Nine percent of those providers performed 44 percent of the visits — but most homebound people live more than 30 miles from one of those providers, meaning location largely determines if a patient can be seen at home.
Additionally, they found a dearth of physicians who will actually make house calls — less than 1 percent of primary care physicians do so regularly.
"We don't have enough home-based medical care," said Aaron Yao, PhD, assistant professor in UVA School of Medicine's Department of Public Health. Upping home visits can save a trip to the emergency room, thus lowering costs and providing a more patient-centered care model, he said.