By Lyn Mettler
Contributing Writer

When Joe Sylvan, owner of Sylvan Galleries on King Street, came down with a nasty case of pneumonia last December, he felt there was no way he could muster up enough energy to get to the doctor’s office. But he remembered a physician who came to the rescue of a friend who became ill while staying at a local hotel.

Sylvan picked up the phone, called Access Healthcare, located on Calhoun Street, and Dr. David Albenberg, whom he calls “Dr. Dave,” was there in a matter of hours. “I could barely get in and out of bed,” says Sylvan. “He came out that day, which was just a huge help.”

While house calls are largely a thing of the past, some local doctors, have revived the practice in the name of customer service. Sylvan’s case is one of several Albenberg handles on a monthly basis. He’s one of a minority of family practitioners across the nation who have adopted the practice. In fact, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, a 2004 survey of their members found only about 18% regularly offer house calls.

Albenberg began offering the service, along with 24-hours-a-day availability for medically appropriate situations when he opened his practice two years ago after getting many requests for the service at his previous practice. “We’re really trying to listen to our patients and give them what they’re wanting, one of which is access,” says Albenberg.

Dr. Bill Simpson, a physician and professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, has been offering house calls throughout the 30 years he’s been practicing medicine.

But he’s finding the number of requests has dwindled over time. He largely visits the homes of elderly patients, who may have trouble making it to his office or for whom he would like to know more about their home environment. Now home health care companies are able to do that job for him, particularly in regards to assessing home safety, he says.

In the past, Simpson also visited the homes of dying patients, but again, he says hospice services are now able to fill that need, replacing him and doing a wonderful job, he adds.

But there’s another type of patient who also appreciates not having to leave their home to join the hordes of the sick at the doctor’s office: new moms. Mount Pleasant-based pediatrician Dr. Jill Aiken recently began catering to that need.

Aiken, who owns Sandlapper Pediatrics, will come to the home of new parents for that all-important first baby check-up just a couple days after delivery. “It’s a great service to come to someone’s house after a C-section or after a delivery,” she says. Not only might mom not feel like getting up and out of the house, but she can avoid exposing her newborn to other children’s germs.

Aiken decided to offer house visits to provide more personal service to her clients in order to help her stand out from the crowd of pediatricians in town.

“In order to cement that bond with (my patients), I feel spending a lot of time with them is important,” she says. “I think people appreciate having that bond with their pediatrician—they’re taking care of your baby.”

Home visits don’t come free. Most doctors follow the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology codes, which does outline fees for house calls and they are generally not that much more expensive.

Albenberg, for example, charges about $50 above the cost of a regular office visit. However, most home visits are not covered by insurance, so patients must foot the bill.

But, says Aiken, “People who really want that service (are willing to pay for it).”

House calls are not easy for doctors to do. It takes time to drive to their patient’s house and to load up all the equipment they need. But by making the effort, they’re finding a loyalty among patients who have hundreds of doctors to choose from.

“If you do a house call on a patient, they’re yours forever,” says Albenberg.

He made a lifetime patient out of Sylvan, who has long been leery of the medical profession. He even inspired him to get his first physical in 20 years.

Simpson agrees with Albenberg. “The patients are appreciative, as they know you’ve made the effort to make a visit into their home,” he says.

In addition, it forges a strong, more intimate relationship once a health care provider has entered your personal environment. “You never have the same relationship with a patient once you make a home visit,” says Simpson.

“I think anytime somebody comes to your house, you get a different sense of who they are,” says Sylvan. And while he’s grateful Albenberg was on call that day in December and that he was able to begin a long-lasting relationship, he says he hopes he doesn’t require another home visit anytime soon.

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