"House Call Medicine Makes A Comeback" - Robin Warshaw
The old-time practice of doctors making house calls to see patients with acute illnesses is making a comeback for a different purpose: to provide on-going primary care to certain patients. Home-based primary care programs, many of which are run by academic medical centers, are gaining increasing interest nationwide as a way to bring comprehensive care to patients who are homebound with severe chronic conditions. "The number of homebound patients is larger than our nursing home population," said study lead author, Katherine Ornstein, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. An additional one million patients are home-limited, going out sometimes but only with assistance, Dr. Ornstein adds. "The experience of seeing patients at home is substantially different than in a clinical setting. And seeing that world is really eye-opening." Some programs are training for the future. Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors teaches house call medicine to a wide range of learners, from third-year medical students, residents, and fellows to nurse practitioner trainees and social work interns.
- Katherine Ornstein, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
