Not Running a Hospital: Return of the house call?

Monday, April 14, 2008

Please read this op-ed by Dr. Elizabeth Kass, from Urban Medical, and our Chief of Medicine, Mark Zeidel.

Anonymous said...: Hi,

Since I couldn't find a way to write to you, I post this.

Could you comment on this?

http://www.e-patients.net/archives/2008/04/impact_of_fee_f.html

thx.; April 14, 2008 1:17 PM
e-Patient Dave said...: That's a fabulous column and great news. The people at the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative are working their buns off to document the relationship between better health and continuous primary care relationships. I'll be posting a PPT (don't hit me!) with some of their data soon.; April 14, 2008 3:47 PM
Anonymous said...: The resurrection of “house calls” is a wonderful idea. The author of the Globe article shows a little bias towards MDs but from a practical point of view it makes good sense. Gaining access to primary care providers in a reasonable time period – a few days is basically a memory of the past. Typically several patients just show up at their local emergency department and brave the long lines, uncomfortable chairs, and the groans of others waiting to get in to see a provider, if they can even get there – not a great image.

House calls improve access to care and clearly have some cost saving benefits. If MDs can collaboratively work with other mid-level providers in a single practice than productivity can be increased, access to care can be improved, and I would say it helps utilize healthcare resources more efficiently. For some time now I have wondered why this practice faded away.; April 14, 2008 3:54 PM

Not Running a Hospital