Is it time to roll back the clock? House calls by primary care physicians may be a money saver in some cases, according to the Los Angeles Times . One main benefit of this strategy, which we’ve written about before here and here , is that closely monitoring these patients can reduce expensive hospital admissions. The LA Times details the experience of a team of docs in Richmond, Va., who visit about 275 patients — most with multiple medical conditions — once a month. Visits to these home-bound patients can turn up everything from a typical urinary tract infection to an emergency situation that requires an ambulance. But even

if it may save money in the long-run, the up-front costs are expensive: Medicare pays for about half the program’s $1 million price tag, and the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center picks up the remaining portion. And, home visits don’t work very well for docs who aren’t affiliated with a medical system, because they don’t reap the benefits of savings from reduced hospitalizations. A proposal currently included in the House version of the health-reform bill would provide independent health care professionals a chance to share in Medicare savings from home visits, says the Times. Image: iStockphoto

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Do House Calls Save Money?