House Call Service Experiences?

[Colorado]

Hi all!

I'm intrigued by a company located near me that offers "acute care house calls."

Vehicle equipped with medical equipment (POCT/I-stats, splinting materials, suture materials, medications, IVFs, vitals, etc.) and staffed by 1 PA/NP and 1 EMT.

Sounds like 10 hour shifts, " an average 45 minutes spent with each patient."

I have a friend of a friend who works for the company (Dispatch Health) and he enjoys it. Some days they are busy, going from one call to the next and other days they have some down time between calls. 

I was told starting pay is somewhere in the realm of $55-60/hour.

Does anyone out there have experience with this type of service? 

I know that peoples OPINIONS on this style of healthcare service will vary wildly, but I am curious to know if any of you have personally worked in this type of a setup and what your thoughts are?

1. I'm curious how the model is financially sustainable with fewer patients per day than say a clinic where you have back to back 15-20 minute appointments.

2. Did you feel that you were providing quality care or just wasting time/money/resources? I come from an EMS/ER tech background but currently work in Family Practice. I definitely see how this fits a need in the community.

3. Work/life balance. 

4. How was the driving around all the time? (FYI, I spend 1 hour each way driving to/from work 4 days a week currently and after 2 years, its grating on me. This opportunity would be a 30min drive or 35 min. bus/train ride from home but riding around in the car all day between patients)

5. Do you think the model is sustainable? 

 

Thanks for your 2 cents!!!

[ventana]

probably CASH

minimal overhead

underpaying their provider ($55/hour is almost insulting for independent field work)

 

[Gordon, PA-C]

It's not sustainable unless your entire client population is Medicare or Medicaid.

For some medicaid plans (Texas does this) you have to get preauthorization to get house calls covered.

Private insurance won't cover house calls and will force all of those visits to patient deductible.

There was another house visit company in DFW called PediaQ which did pediatric house calls.  They folded after 12 months because the patients discovered they were getting hit with huge out of network bills not covered by private insurance.

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Gordon, PA-C

[Cideous]

10 hours ago, ventana said:

probably CASH

minimal overhead

underpaying their provider ($55/hour is almost insulting for independent field work)

 

Boy I agree.  That is looooow.  But now a days, maybe I am just living in the past.

[Colorado]

11 hours ago, ventana said:

probably CASH

minimal overhead

underpaying their provider ($55/hour is almost insulting for independent field work)

 

They state they bill insurance..... which leads me to....

2 hours ago, Gordon, PA-C said:

It's not sustainable unless your entire client population is Medicare or Medicaid.

For some medicaid plans (Texas does this) you have to get preauthorization to get house calls covered.

Private insurance won't cover house calls and will force all of those visits to patient deductible.

There was another house visit company in DFW called PediaQ which did pediatric house calls.  They folded after 12 months because the patients discovered they were getting hit with huge out of network bills not covered by private insurance.

 

... I supposed they can bill insurance all they want but eventually the pt will be stuck with an out of network bill eventually and that will shut down a company eventually. Good example with PediaQ...I'll look into their story.

 

Regarding pay, I live in an area of low pay. If you break down my salary rate to an hourly rate, I'm paid FAR less than 55/hr. Yes, thats atrocious. This is why I've been looking for another job for over a year. Unfortunately the market here is also highly competitive. So when a good job comes available, theres insane competition and with 2 yrs experience I get bumped for the guy/gal with 5-10-15 years experience no matter how much my letter/resume/references sing my praises. And the jobs that I do get callbacks on are awful offers (ie: working urgent care solo with one patient care tech and expected to work the front desk checking in patients and expected to clean the office and perform MA duties with no back up and crap benefits) 

Thanks for everyones input! Keep it coming if anyone has further thoughts.