Costs and Benefits of Patient Home Visits in a Family Medicine Residency Program

Authors' Affiliations

Benjamin Daniel Whitfield, DO, MSW, Department of Family Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City Tennessee. Leigh Johnson, MD, MPH, Department of Family Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City Tennessee. Jodi Polaha, PhD. Department of Family Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City Tennessee.

Location

Mt Mitchell

Start Date

4-12-2019 9:00 AM

End Date

4-12-2019 2:30 PM

Poster Number

134

Faculty Sponsor’s Department

Family Medicine

Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Leigh Johnson

Classification of First Author

Medical Resident or Clinical Fellow

Type

Poster: Competitive

Project's Category

Rural Health, Patient Care and Education, Health Services Delivery, Health of Underserved Populations, Family Health Services

Abstract or Artist's Statement

Home visits are a required training component of many Family Medicine residency programs in the United States. However, they are becoming less popular due to such factors as increasing resident responsibilities, decreasing reimbursement, and a decline in resident intention to incorporate home visits into future practice. This study’s aims are: (1) to evaluate the current practices of one Family Medicine residency training program’s time and resource expenditure to conduct home visits, and (2) to evaluate resident and faculty experiences of home visits. Residents and faculty in a Family Medicine training program were provided with a 12- question survey immediately after completing a home visit. A total of 19 surveys from residents and faculty were collected and analyzed. Average reported time spent per home visit was 90 minutes (range = 50-180 minutes), and the home visit teams included an average of 4 members (range = 2-6 members). The providers felt that they knew their patients and the patients’ circumstances better after the home visit with a score of 4.1 (on a 1-5 scale with 5 being a positively framed statement). Resident opinions were neutral (average score 3.1 on a 1-5 scale) regarding whether they found home visits to be educational to their residency training in Family Medicine. Residents also had mixed feelings (average score 2.9) regarding whether they would perform more home visits during their residency training if given the opportunity. Most faculty members (5/7) indicated they had done home visits during their residency training and all faculty (7/7) felt that home visits added value to their training in Family Medicine. Finally, qualitative recommendations were collected from respondents which may allow this training program to improve home visits in the future. Overall, significant time is currently being spent conducting home visits, with a difference in perceived efficacy between residents and faculty. Future research may include a cost analysis to quantify financial value, as well as expanding data collection to other Family Medicine residency training programs to improve generalizability.

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Apr 12th, 9:00 AM Apr 12th, 2:30 PM

Costs and Benefits of Patient Home Visits in a Family Medicine Residency Program

Mt Mitchell

Home visits are a required training component of many Family Medicine residency programs in the United States. However, they are becoming less popular due to such factors as increasing resident responsibilities, decreasing reimbursement, and a decline in resident intention to incorporate home visits into future practice. This study’s aims are: (1) to evaluate the current practices of one Family Medicine residency training program’s time and resource expenditure to conduct home visits, and (2) to evaluate resident and faculty experiences of home visits. Residents and faculty in a Family Medicine training program were provided with a 12- question survey immediately after completing a home visit. A total of 19 surveys from residents and faculty were collected and analyzed. Average reported time spent per home visit was 90 minutes (range = 50-180 minutes), and the home visit teams included an average of 4 members (range = 2-6 members). The providers felt that they knew their patients and the patients’ circumstances better after the home visit with a score of 4.1 (on a 1-5 scale with 5 being a positively framed statement). Resident opinions were neutral (average score 3.1 on a 1-5 scale) regarding whether they found home visits to be educational to their residency training in Family Medicine. Residents also had mixed feelings (average score 2.9) regarding whether they would perform more home visits during their residency training if given the opportunity. Most faculty members (5/7) indicated they had done home visits during their residency training and all faculty (7/7) felt that home visits added value to their training in Family Medicine. Finally, qualitative recommendations were collected from respondents which may allow this training program to improve home visits in the future. Overall, significant time is currently being spent conducting home visits, with a difference in perceived efficacy between residents and faculty. Future research may include a cost analysis to quantify financial value, as well as expanding data collection to other Family Medicine residency training programs to improve generalizability.