Physician House Calls Research Paper

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Physician House Calls By: Amanda Baker I am sure some people can remember when doctors actually went to their patients’ homes. Unfortunately, those days seem to have gone the way of rotary phones and good old-fashioned typewriters. In recent years, however, physician house calls have been making a comeback. What is a physician house call program? An interdisciplinary medical team, typically consisting of a physician and a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, cares for the patient in their home. They come to the patient’s home with portable diagnostic equipment and medical supplies, diagnose the patient’s health problems, design a treatment plan, provide medical care, arrange for any other needed health services and coordinate the…show more content…
This program is designed to provide patients a personal relationship with a physician, continuity of care across time and place, and care where it is needed, for as long as it is needed. “The house call team will also try to provide the following services: Health assessment, diagnosis, and plan for treatment; Assessment of the home environment for factors that may contribute to health and safety problems; Ongoing medical care; Care management and oversight, both within the patient’s home and across settings, home to hospital and rehab facility and back home again; Coordination of health services with visiting nurses, medical specialists, hospital staff, hospice services and community agencies to improve the continuity of health and medical care and facilitate hospital admissions; and Support and education to patients and their families so they can make informed health care decisions” (Institute for the Future of Aging Services , 2008). House call physicians and nurses may also assist patients with identifying medical equipment needs, authorize and oversee durable medical equipment and home health providers, and conduct routine tests in the patient’s home, such as blood work, urinalyses, EKGs and x-rays so that a patient wo has a difficult time leaving their home can receive routine…show more content…
I believe the best approach for this company would be to have everything done electronically, since we don’t need a very big office space due to patients being seen in their homes we can save on space and paperwork by installing Electronic Health Record system or as most of us call it today EHR. “EHRs are computerized systems that store and provide access to patient-specific clinical data. Separate kinds of EHRs support hospitals and physician practices. There are many types of EHRs for physician practices; some require a server be physically located at the practice. Others use servers that are based remotely and accessed via a private network or a secure internet connection. A practice can acquire a “complete EHR, which includes all of the functionality required for certification in one software package. Alternatively, a practice can assemble several certified EHR modules, which, when used together, provide full functionality” (American Medical Association, 2010). The less paperwork and hard copy patient charts the better. I would have each physician equipped with a tablet or smart phone that they would be able to input patient’s information and over a secure network that is approved through HIPAA for patient’s privacy and

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