With the advancement of technology, house calls have become immensely popular to serve the patients in the comfort of their homes. This type of healthcare service offers healthcare at the patient’s doorstep when required just by booking an appointment. That’s why recently, a rise has been noticed in the number of house calls. While it offers many benefits, some obstacles limit its growth. Learn what a house call doctor is and what services and benefits they offer in this article. Talk to our experts to know more.
What is a home visit physician?
Home call doctors are licensed physicians who make home calls to provide care and address patients’ potential concerns. Although this isn’t a traditional practice, some doctors and healthcare workers prefer house calls instead of in-office appointments. This is because a visit from a house call doctor can be convenient for patients who may not want to take time off work or prefer to receive treatment in their home environment. In-home care is also beneficial for people with mobility issues, like the elderly, and people with families who have multiple schedules to juggle. Convenience is one of the major reasons to use a home visit doctor, because there are various benefits. For instance, complete privacy in your own home, and the medical information doesn’t become public if someone happens to see you leave the doctor’s office with a prescription in hand.
Additionally, visits from a doctor are less expensive than an in-office appointment because of their low overhead costs. Home doctors don’t have a per-patient time limit like many clinics have, which allows them to get to know you and your medical history, which leads to more accurate treatments and better outcomes. In-home medical practices provide patients with nearly instant access to doctors and have many additional perks. So, if you have an issue, you can just contact your doctor on the phone and schedule an in-person appointment within hours or days rather than weeks. It gives you the advantage of high-quality care without excessive waiting periods, which is possible with a doctor’s visit to your doorstep.
What does a home visit doctor do?
A home visit doctor can provide comprehensive medical care directly to a patient’s residence. Their role goes beyond primary care, offering a wide range of services, including:
- Medication management
- Diagnosing and treating acute illnesses
- Managing chronic conditions
- Conducting routine check-ups
- Administering vaccinations
- Providing preventive care
- Medical assessments and treatments
Home call doctors often focus on building strong doctor-patient relationships, ensuring that patients receive personalized, attentive, and convenient healthcare in the comfort of their homes.
On-Demand Home Call Benefits
Depending on the services offered by physicians for home visits, your benefits can vary. Most common benefits for home visits include:
- You don’t have to worry about exposing yourself to the germs of other patients in the doctor’s office or hospital.
- You don’t need to break up your day with a commute, sit in the waiting room, or even leave your home.
- Most house call services will come to you no matter where you are, including your office, hotel, or at home.
- You don’t need to travel to the doctor’s office or hospital when you’re sick.
- For less serious medical conditions, house calls don’t charge as much as visiting an emergency room.
- Many home visit services offer longer hours than urgent care facilities.
- Many home call doctors often come equipped to perform almost all the procedures available at an urgent care facility.
Beyond the above-mentioned benefits, many on-demand medical house call services utilize better and more convenient medical care and medical education support through technology. Many custom apps that support on-demand house call services offer individuals quick and affordable answers to simple medical questions 24/7. While more serious medical inquiries/questions need to be addressed by nursing staff or the doctor on call through messaging within apps. Additionally, many on-demand house call services give access to health records through whatever applications the services have.
Reasons behind the recent surge in Home Calls
Many reasons have led to a recent surge of home calls, including:
- Elderly population:
The recent rapid growth of the elderly generation comes with the rising need for early prevention and easy access to medical care. According to a report revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 20% of the population by 2030 will be made up of people who are 65 years or older. This large shift in demographics is due to longer life spans, along with the rise of baby boomers getting older.
- Homebound Patients:
Patients with mobility issues or those who are homebound need house calls for their care. Most people in today’s world suffer from chronic health conditions like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. While some of these individuals can visit a doctor’s office for appointments, others cannot. Those with mobility issues have to rely on others to transport them to a health facility, while people who are homebound or don’t have access to reliable transportation, house calls ensure that they receive proper medical treatment at home to manage their chronic conditions from getting worse resulting in hospital stays or other more extensive treatment plans.
- Advancements in technology:
House calls have increased with the introduction of smaller/handheld technology because it improves the functionality of medical equipment while making it compact. This was not possible in the past, but with the latest advancement, medical equipment is smaller and more portable, allowing healthcare providers to move with it and offer better medical services.
- Need to isolate:
In recent years, the need for people to isolate themselves has increased, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Millions of people needed to quarantine themselves to protect themselves from being infected. Like other industries, medicine was forced to find different ways to provide healthcare to individuals with new and innovative methods. Telemedicine allows doctors to visit their patients online and guide them on how to manage their condition or take precautions. Home visits offer an opportunity for physicians to travel to their high-risk patients to meet their medical needs without putting them at risk of hospital-acquired infections.
Obstacles to Expanding Home Care
Despite the expansion of home care in terms of cost and quality care for people with complex needs, only a fraction of eligible elders are receiving benefits from it. Several reasons cause this:
- Most people who are homebound live very far from the practitioner’s clinic. Providers who offer primary care at home need to see around 10 patients a day, compared to office-based physicians who can see up to 25.
- Most providers receive a modest amount for their house call visits, which doesn’t cover the time they spend driving or coordinating the care of the patients. While in traditional settings, they earn much more than this, which attracts fewer home-based practitioners to this field.
- Many doctors don’t even know these options exist, which makes it difficult to join residency programs for providing this service. While it is growing, it still needs time to flourish properly to ensure there are enough healthcare providers for this field.
Physician home visits are a good option for patients who can’t visit a doctor’s clinic for some reason, like mobility issues, chronic conditions, being homebound, etc., to get professional medical care services from medication management to preventive measures in the comfort of their home. While the on-demand home visits are growing, some above-mentioned obstacles to home care still hinder its growth. However, these obstacles will be cleared, and this field will expand rapidly in the future.
Want an appointment for doctor home visits for yourself or loved ones, talk with our experts on what type of doctor home visits services you need!!!!! At ROADL, we are committed to fostering strong partnerships and collaborations that drive innovation and improve the healthcare experience for all. By working together, we can revolutionize the way care is delivered, making it more accessible, efficient, and effective for everyone involved. Speak with our experts at +1 (833) 762-3555 to know more about our services. Or you can walk in at 1797 Pitkin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11212, or write us an e-mail at roc@roadlcare.com.
