Physician house calls may be making a comeback — slowly. CMS released new data Thursday revealing house calls saved more than $25 million in the first year of a three-year study, according to The Boston Globe.
Medicare's Independent at Home demonstration project, now in its third year, is intended to examine the value of home-based primary care for some of Medicare' frailest seniors with multiple chronic illnesses and assess its ability to reduce costs and improve care by avoiding emergency department visits. About 8,400 frail seniors with multiple chronic conditions currently receive customized home-based primary care from 17 programs across the nation.
CMS data showed that in the study's first year, the project saved an average of $3,070 per participating beneficiary.
According to Patrick Conway, MD, CMO of Medicare, house calls deliver "high-touch" coordinated care that allows a patient's care team to identify and treat potential medical problems in his or her everyday environment before they require a hospital visit.
"If we can keep people as healthy as possible and at home, so they only go to the hospital or emergency room when they really need to, that both improves quality and lowers cost," Mr. Conway told The Boston Globe.
House calls today can include high-tech equipment, including EKGs, on-the-spot tests for infections and portable X-rays. Providers can also check medicine bottles to see if patients are taking their medications, correct tripping hazards and even see what kinds of foods they are eating.
While house calls are beginning to increase in prevalence, they are still rare because of reimbursement. Medicare covered more than 2.6 million house call visits in 2013. However, these reimbursements don't account for physicians' travel time and the fact that they can see many more patients each day in the office than on the road.