Why this family practitioner only makes house calls

With a donated car and a bright green bicycle, Ernest Brown, MD, said he wants to change the way healthcare is delivered to patients in the Washington, D.C., area.

In an interview with NBC's "Today" program, Dr. Brown said he graduated from the University of Maryland in College Park and began a career in research studying hepatitis and HIV. However, he quickly grew tired of the politics surrounding research funding, he said. Dr. Brown claimed he knew medicine was his calling after a physician he observed as a medical school student told a patient he would see her during a home visit the following week.

"Those words, 'I will see you home in a week,' changed my entire career," Dr. Brown said. "I saw the relationships [that physician] had with patients. I saw the connections he had out in the community[,] and I thought, this is it. …The intention [of making house calls] is to show others that there is a different way. The reason I became a physician is because I like to help. In the context of the healthcare system that we have now, it's impossible to care for people."

Dr. Brown has since spent his entire career making house calls, driving to patients in his donated vehicle or biking to their homes, offices or workplace. He initially facilitated his house calls through a nonprofit organization and then through his own business venture, Doctors to You. He charges $300 or more per consultation to visit patients at their homes depending on the distance he must travel or if he spends a significant amount of time working after-hours on a case. He does not accept patients' insurance, according to the report.

Dr. Brown claimed the best part of his job is the ability to offer patients a thorough assessment of their health, in addition to diagnosing any perceived symptoms or illnesses.

"I can go through the cupboards, see what the medications are. I can look around, I can smell things, check the refrigerator, see how they're eating. I can do more in one house call than I could ever do sitting in a box at a clinic, being told I have to see patients every 10 minutes," Dr. Brown told "Today." "When you look at physicians in practice, burnout is high, substance abuse is high, divorce rates are high. You're under lots of stress, because you're trying to care for a lot of people. … The whole system is sick … [but] this is what feels right."

To read Dr. Brown's full interview, click here.

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