Educating physicians in home health care. Council on Scientific Affairs and Council on Medical Education [corrected]

Abstract

A growing proportion of health care, especially long-term care, should best and most appropriately be provided in the home setting. Physicians have largely remained on the periphery of this reemerging area of health care. Yet if home health care is to reach its full potential, physicians must fulfill their essential role as members of the home health team. Direct physician input and participation are needed to ensure that home health care is safe and medically appropriate. Physician involvement will enhance the supervision of medical care in the home, and physicians' expertise is also much needed for home health care quality assurance and clinical research. Role models and training experiences must be developed for new physicians so that they can integrate home health care skills and values into their future practices. Although most of the usual physician objections to home health care involvement can be addressed by education, the problem of inadequate reimbursement is substantive and must be addressed by policy change.