Medicare Returning to an Old-Fashioned Idea–House Calls

Looking for ways to save money and improve care, Medicare officials are returning to an old-fashioned idea: house calls. The experiment, called Independence at Home, is more than a nostalgic throwback to the way medicine was practiced decades ago when the doctor arrived at the patient’s door carrying a big black bag. Done right and paid right, house calls could prove to be a better way of treating very sick, elderly patients while they can still live at home. “House calls go back to the origins of medicine, but in many ways I think this is the next generation,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, who heads Medicare’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which oversees Independence at Home. In the first year of the experiment, Housecall Providers of Portland, Ore., which had been operating at a loss, saved Medicare an average of almost $13,600 for each patient in the pilot project. Its share of the savings was $1.2 million. The house calls practice at MedStar Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C., cut the cost of care an average of $12,000 per patient. Medicare reported overall savings of $25 million in the pilot’s first year, officials reported last June. From that money, nine practices earned bonuses totaling nearly $12 million, including a $2.9 million payment to a practice in Flint, Mich.

Source/more: USA Today

David Wingate is an elder law attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. The elder law office services clients with powers of attorneys, living wills, Wills, Trusts, Medicaid and asset protection. The Elder Law office has locations in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.