Needs for physician housecalls--views from health and social service providers.

This article examines how the role of a physician housecall program is perceived by health and social service providers that refer their clients to the program in a Midwest suburban community. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews with those providers revealed various housecall service needs of their homebound clients. In particular, the fact that home health agencies were the largest referral source suggests that the housecall program fills the needs that are not met by the current mainstream home health services. Our findings reinforce the argument for the increased physician involvement in home care and physician housecalls.