In-Home Medical Treatment A Growing Trend
DENVER (CBS4) – The doctor's house call is no longer a thing of the past, in the growing healthcare trend of on-demand mobile urgent care.
Residents throughout the Denver metro area are skipping the trips to the doctor's office and opting instead for medical care in their own homes.
CBS4's Melissa Garcia rode along on a medical call with Aurora Hunt, a nurse practitioner who works for Dispatch Health.
In the company's call center, dispatchers receive calls from sick or hurt patients and send out crews in rovers.
A rover is a specialized car packed with all of the medical supplies staff members need to treat patients suffering from everything from nausea to open wounds to severe infections.
"Certainly everything you can find in an urgent care (clinic), but additionally we have I.V. supplies, lab supplies, we can do stitches," Hunt explained.
She said the 50-60 calls crews in Denver respond to each day are about more than just the medicine.
"I've been known to make tomato soup and grilled cheese on scene as needed. So it's just a very, sort of personal and intimate care that I don't think you can find anywhere else," Hunt said.
Annette Reyes, who lives in Highlands Ranch and called Dispatch Health, received a breathing treatment from the couch of her home.
"I'm very impressed, and I plan to use it again as needed," Reyes said.
For her visit, the medical provider billed her insurance. Dispatch Health also bills state healthcare programs like CHP+. For the uninsured, the most a visit will cost is $275.
For more information or to use the service, visit the company's website.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
