The impact of a HouseCalls practitioner

Visiting an older adult in their home for preventive care can be a powerful thing. It’s in these comfortable settings where millions of people each year spend about an hour with an advanced practice clinician (APC) to discuss their health and coordinate appropriate follow-up care.

This free service for UnitedHealthcare Medicare and Medicaid members – known as a HouseCalls visit – has closed more than 3 million gaps in care last year.¹

Michelle Lynch is a nurse practitioner who has been working with HouseCalls for almost eight years. During her HouseCalls visits serving members in Iowa, she performs a comprehensive assessment, giving the member an opportunity to ask questions and discuss the things most important to their health. This could mean anything from managing medications, getting referrals for medical and behavioral health, or help with a chronic disease.

Because each member has different needs, each visit is different. But a consistent theme remains — the older adults she cares for are grateful for this in-home service, whether her interventions are routine or more critical. They also act as a complement, and not a replacement, for visits to a primary care provider.

These visits have involved connecting with a member’s primary care provider (PCP), or bridging the gap until the member can receive one. There have also been instances where Michelle has recognized when a member needs to go immediately to the emergency room or has had to call 911. In one instance, after an initial phone call with a member to confirm their HouseCalls visit appointment, she called the PCP and discussed her thoughts based on what the member had said, and as a result got them the care the member needed immediately.

“I love going into people’s homes and spending time with them, meeting them where they are and providing them with information they may have not gotten on their own,” Michelle said. “I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to be such an essential part of the member-centered health care team.”

In every one of these cases, Michelle met the members where they were at. Whether it’s something large or small, Michelle is there to provide compassionate, evidence-based care. And with more than 4,000 advance practice clinicians who perform HouseCalls visits, she’s not alone.

Recent HouseCalls data shows it’s making an impact:

• Members receiving HouseCalls visits saw reduced wait times to receive follow-up primary care, ranging from more than two days less for hypertension to five days less for depression
• About 79% of older members had in-office primary care visit within 180 days of their HouseCalls visit¹
• More than 766,000 referrals for social drivers of health were made, as a direct result of HouseCalls visits.¹ Social drivers of health include the things outside of a clinical setting that affect one’s health, such as housing, transportation and food security.

“I hear over and over from members, ‘Thanks for coming, I have been looking forward to this appointment, I get so much out of these HouseCalls visits,’” Michelle said. “’You explain things very well and listen to what I have to say. See you next year!’”