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Welcome to the online resource for physicians interested in starting their own medical house call practice or cash only medical practice.
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10 Reasons Why Physicians Should Do Medical House Calls

You, like many physicians are employed by a hospital, clinic or are involved in a group practice. You may even be a solo practitioner. As an employed physician of a hospital or clinic you are placed in a "replaceable" position, have no free time, have a set work schedule, and deal with the managed care and HMO' model for taking care of patients; otherwise known as the proverbial "treat them and street them" medical approach. This type of medicine works out great for meeting the managed care quotas, but ultimately it turns out to be bad medicine for both the physician and the patient. Only, this medical model will make the non-medical "bean counter" (CEO) wealthy and will add years to your life. In a group medical practice you may encounter difference in personalities, opinions and shared workloads, not to mention overhead expenses and the same goes for the solo office based physician.

So the question is why is the time right to start a medical house call practice? HouseCall Doctors, LLC has come up with ten (10) good reasons for starting a medical house call practice.

1.) No Managed Care or HMOs

With medical house calls you are free from accepting HMO/managed care plans. You can see patients who have Medicare, Medicare with Medicaid, Medicare with Supplemental insurance, and patients with private insurance plans. There is also a large population of uninsured patients in the United States in the 19-63 year old age range who are willing to pay cash for a medical house call from a physician. Besides, as a physician, you want to be able to order x-rays, lab work, ultrasounds, CAT Scans, and MRIs without having to get prior authorization; that is why you attended medical school; to practice medicine.

2.) Lower Overhead

With medical house calls there is no expensive long-term lease to pay, no utilities, no need for having to hire multiple employees only to pay workman's comp and health insurance and no need for expensive equipment. In fact, a U.S. Department of Labor statistic says that the cost of doing business by the year 2005 will increase by 5-7% from 2003, and 2010 will increase by 10-15%. Donald Palmisano, M.D. President of the American Medical Association reported in October of 2002 that doctors have taken a 5.4 percent cut and are facing another 12 percent in cuts, equaling about $11 billion, over the next three years. At the current rate of cuts and inflation, Medicare' office based payments to physicians in 2005 will be below the 1991 level, Palmisano said.

What this will amount to is an increase in the cost of doing business and a decrease in accounts receivable. It only makes sense to do medical house calls to keep your overhead low and make a 55-65% net profit rather than have high overhead to only make a 20-25% net profit.

3.) Increased Reimbursement For Medical House Calls

Another motivating factor besides maintaining a low overhead is that medical house calls have a much higher reimbursement rate than a conventional office visit. The number of home visits that Medicare paid for shot up almost eight-fold to 1.5 million in 2001 from 195,700 in 1996, according to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare in 1998 finally raised payment for home visits by as much as 50%. House call doctors say home treatment for many elderly patients will cost less over the long term than repeated trips to the emergency room, extended hospital stays or even nursing-home care. Medicare reimburses as much as $266 for a new patient treated at home, 46% more than the $182 that can be billed in an office setting. To see articles on medical house calls from the Wall Street Journal and USA Weekly Click Here.

4.) Aging Baby Boomer Population

The senior population in the United States will dramatically increase within the next 5-10 years, especially with the new medications and medical technology available to prolong the life expectancy rate. This population of elderly (senior) adults is more susceptible to become homebound and more dependent upon services that come to them. One Reno, NV doctor provides medical house calls and has decided that more of his elderly patients should be seen at home because they "were having trouble getting into the office," he says. The frailest patients, who make up less than 20% of his practice, were consuming 35% of the office staff's time, he found.

5.) Have More Free Time; Work Part Time and Earn a Full Time Income

With medical house calls you will have more free time since your overhead expenses are lower and your reimbursement is higher, so instead of having to see 25-35+ patients per day just to pay expenses you will see 8-12 patients per day to net $150-$200k per year.

6.) Flexible Scheduling

With medical house calls you can set your own time schedule. You can start as early as you want (6-8 a.m.) and end as late as you want. There is no hospital call because you network with fellow physicians who will follow up with your patients in the hospital or you can split your time with house calls early in the day (morning) and go to the hospital to follow your patients late in the afternoon.

7.) Lower Malpractice Premiums

With the national medical malpractice price increase crisis; malpractice for an office based family practitioner, internal medicine or generalist can go as high as $18-$20k per year based on a high to medium sized patient base. With a medical house call practice, a medical malpractice policy can be underwritten for as little as $5-$8k per year (rates vary from state to state and agency to agency) since it is considered a minimal or part time practice. You can use your malpractice premium as a tax deduction business expense for medical house calls.

8.) Utilize Medical House Calls as an Expansion to Your Office Based Practice

Medical house calls can be a perfect extension to an office-based practice to offset expenses as well as set you apart from the competition. Making yourself marketable and accessible to your patients outside of your office in a medical house call setting is impressive and shows compassion for those patients (especially the elderly) who are not able to come to your office based practice.

9.) Have the Edge Over Your Competition

Since 1998 when Medicare started to reimburse physicians for medical house calls and now in 2005, (7 years later in business) HouseCall Doctors, LLC is discovering, everyday that patients as well as physicians nationwide have not discovered the true benefits, financially for physicians and convenience for patients, of a medical house call. The medical house call industry is still in its infancy and will "explode" by 2007. Don't get left behind! Have the edge over your competition.

10.) A Fee for Service Practice

Because of the nature of a medical house call practice (the physician coming to the patient and not the patient going to the physician) unlike a conventional office based practice, there is more marketing appeal and value to the service, therefore the patient is more likely to pay out of pocket for the convenience of the service. Medical house calls are a "win-win" for both the physician and the patient.

4 Reasons Why Physician's Should Join HouseCall Doctor's

  1. 10 years of medical house call experience - With 10 years of medical house call experience HouseCall Doctors, LLC has made the mistakes in a medical house call practice setting with advertising/marketing, medical billing, hiring employees and every function and detail of a medical house call practice. HouseCall Doctors has corrected, perfected and packaged a complete "turnkey" practice opportunity so that physician's succeed with their own medical house call practice.
  2. Wrote the book on medical house calls - HouseCall Doctors, LLC has written the book on medical house calls; that's right!! HouseCall Doctors wrote a 260 page manual titled A Physicians Complete Guide to a Successful Medical House Call Practice. 4 years after making all the mistakes in a medical house call practice, HouseCall Doctors set out to write a 260 page informative easy to read business manual for physician's who are ready to change their life forever with increased income and more free time.
  3. Name Recognition - Sure you can sit down for countless hours in your free time (with what little free time you have) and try to figure out a clever name for your medical house call practice. With the name HouseCall Doctors, A Mobile Medical Practice the name speaks for itself and besides it took us 3.5 years to obtain the registered trademark for the name!!
  4. Save Time and Money setting up your own medical house call practice - Your time and money is precious, so why should you spend countless hours trying to piece together the details of your practice or hire a salaried and expensive practice manager who has no medical house call experience. Your time is better off spent seeing patients. HouseCall Doctors provides you with a complete "turnkey" practice opportunity with:
    • The licensure of a recognizable and marketable name; HouseCall Doctors A Mobile Medical Practice.
    • On-Going practice management consultation and support as if you hired your own practice manager with 10 years of medical house call experience.
    • Marketing/Advertising consulting services with media buying power for television (cable, broadcast), print, radio and other advertising media.
    • Licensure of the HouseCall Doctor :30 second television commercial with your telephone number and voice over information edited into the commercial.
    • In-house graphic, desktop publishing and website design/marketing services at your disposal.
    • One-stop shop on our website for high quality discounted medical supplies, letterhead, envelopes, business cards, RX pads, brochures, chart forms, vehicle signage, booklets/manuals and business attire (embroidered shirts, jackets and etc.)
    • Provide insurance application credentialing services and consulting.
    • Medical billing services (10+ years of Medical House Call Billing) for a nominal setup fee and a flat monthly gross billing fee (7-10%)

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