Are You Cut Out for House Calls?
House call work may be a lucrative market, but it’s also very satisfying, Quinones says. Every day is a different adventure, and providers feel that they are helping people who might otherwise fall through the cracks in the US health care system.
Some practitioners are attracted to house calls because they believe the start-up costs and overhead will be lower than in other types of medical practice, but Quinones and Sahgal strongly advise investing in an office and a full-time scheduling staff. They also favor electronic record-keeping software and small portable devices, including a pulse oximeter and a portable x-ray machine.
Other components they would recommend? A strong marketing plan, excellent communication skills, a collaborative outlook—and a good set of tires.
But most importantly, Quinones says, house call practitioners need the right kind of personality and worldview to be cut out for this kind of practice. “This is part of the global outlook for us,” he says. “We’re trying to give people better quality of life and keep them out of the emergency room.”