Ont. study finds patients likely to benefit from physician home visits, implies reduced use of healthcare services

Access to physician home visits is essential to meet the needs of those receiving palliative care and other homebound patients. In the U.S., financial incentives are driving a resurgence in these visits. This study measured physician home visit volumes and costs in Ont. from 2005-19 and compared patient characteristics and post-visit use of healthcare services. It found a total of 4 418 334 home visits were performed. Over half (51%) were classified as palliative and accounted for 39% ($22 million) of total annual physician billing costs. The researchers also observed that about half of physician home visits from 2014 to 2019 were to patients receiving neither palliative care nor home care, a group that was younger and healthier and had low use of healthcare services after the visit. They note there’s an opportunity to refine policy tools to target patients most likely to benefit from physician home visits.