A patient's phone rings during a Tuesday afternoon meeting, and it is Dr. Redcross confirming he can be at her house by six that evening. No referral needed. No receptionist to reschedule around. Just direct access to the physician who already knows her history.
This is the house call, a model that dominated American medicine before insurance-driven scheduling took over primary care. It's making a comeback, and not in the way many assume. The physician who arrives at your door is not a home health aide completing a task-based visit ordered after a hospital discharge. Dr. Redcross performs a full clinical examination: physical assessment, point-of-care diagnostics, medication review, and minor procedures when appropriate. All in your home, at your table, without the waiting room.
If you're considering whether a Redcross Concierge house call fits your life, this guide walks you through what actually happens, before the visit, during the exam, and after Dr. Redcross heads back out the door.
What is a house call appointment?
A house call appointment is an in-home visit where your physician comes to you, to your house, your office, or your hotel, and performs a full clinical exam without the constraints of a timed office slot. This is not the same as a home health aide visit, which typically follows a hospital discharge and focuses on nursing care, physical therapy, or wound management. Nor is it a phone triage call with a nurse who routes you back to the doctor or an urgent care center.
The Redcross Concierge house call program brings the physician to you for a full physical examination, medication review, lab work done right there in your home, and the kind of unhurried conversation that gets cut short in a typical office visit. Dr. Redcross already knows your chart before he arrives, so the visit time belongs to you, not to charts and intake forms.
Why would a doctor make a house call?
The reasons are practical and clinical. Seeing the home environment reveals what no office visit ever could, fall hazards near the stairs, medication bottles piling up on the bathroom counter, the distance from the bed to the bathroom that makes nighttime mobility risky. Research shows that home-based primary care assessments uncover functional and safety risks that office visits routinely miss.
House calls also eliminate travel and waiting-room exposure for patients recovering from surgery, managing chronic illness, or dealing with a weakened immune system. When a patient is frail or post-operative, the clinic is a hardship. The physician comes instead.
Direct access means the patient calls Dr. Redcross's own line, not a triage nurse, not an answering service, not a scheduling desk. Understanding when a phone call should turn into an after-hours visit is clearer when you're always calling the same physician. The same person who schedules the visit is the one who arrives to examine you. And because the concierge model is not built around 15-minute insurance-coded slots, visits flex to 30 to 90 minutes depending on what you need. Questions get answered instead of deferred to a follow-up appointment three weeks out.
How a house call differs from a rushed office visit
"The average primary care office visit lasts approximately 15 to 20 minutes."
Those 15 to 20 minutes include paperwork, vital signs, and the physical exam itself. In a high-volume practice, the next patient is already in the waiting room. The schedule doesn't flex. Questions get written down for a follow-up call that may not come that day.
A Redcross Concierge visit works differently. No check-in desk. No nurse taking your vitals before the doctor appears. No rescheduling around posted office hours because a 9-to-5 window doesn't match your life. Dr. Redcross arrives already familiar with the chart, and the visit clock does not tick against a next patient waiting in an exam room. If your concern takes 45 minutes, the visit is 45 minutes. If it takes an hour, it's an hour. The physician isn't moving to the next room at 2:15.
How long should a home health visit last?
A standard Redcross Concierge house call typically runs 45 to 60 minutes. A first intake, where the physician is learning your full history and building a baseline, often takes longer. A same-day sick visit stays short and focused. An annual wellness deep dive covers medical history, preventive screening, lab review, and health planning, and it may run close to 90 minutes. As we explain in a full annual physical exam, the goal is thoroughness, not clock-watching.
This is different from a home health aide or nursing visit, which typically runs 30 to 45 minutes and is scoped to a single task, wound care, physical therapy, medication administration. Redcross house calls are not billed in insurance time increments, so no clock cuts a conversation short when something important needs discussing.
Does Medicare pay for house calls?
Medicare does cover physician house calls, but only for beneficiaries who meet strict homebound criteria and bill to specific visit codes. The program is limited in reach. CMS piloted a broader initiative called the Independence at Home Demonstration, which tested expanded coverage of physician house calls for patients who are chronically ill and homebound. Studies showed that this model reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits among participants.
Redcross Concierge operates outside insurance billing entirely. A flat annual membership replaces the need for insurance codes, prior authorizations, and homebound requirements. Members get unlimited access rather than one annual visit tied to a screening checklist. The membership model means Dr. Redcross has time to know you, not time to bill claims.
What to expect before, during, and after your visit
The house call process is straightforward and personalized to your needs.
- Before the visit: You call or text the practice with your concern and preferred time window. Dr. Redcross or the office confirms, and asks a few quick questions, Are you fasting for labs? Do you want to gather your current medications? Is there a quiet room where we can examine you? Everything is set so the visit time is used on you, not logistics.
- During the visit: Dr. Redcross arrives with his equipment and sits down at your table or in your chair. He performs a full physical examination, reviews your current medications, listens to your main concerns, and uses point-of-care testing if needed. There's no rush. He takes notes and discusses what he's finding as he goes.
- After the visit: You get same-day clinical notes, prescriptions sent electronically to your pharmacy, and a direct line to call or text with follow-up questions. No patient portal login. No hold music. The number you call is the same one that scheduled the visit.
"Home-based primary care programs reduce hospitalizations and emergency room visits among homebound and frail patients."
The patients who benefit most from house call medicine
House calls are not for everyone, and Redcross Concierge is transparent about that. They work best for busy executives and entertainers whose schedules don't bend to a 9-to-5 office window. They're ideal for high-income professionals who treat their time as seriously as their clinical outcomes. They serve patients recovering from surgery or managing chronic conditions who find travel to an office taxing or risky. And they create continuity for families who want one physician who already knows the household, not a rotating on-call group or an urgent care doctor seeing you for the first time.
You can read more about the house call's return as a luxury service if you're curious about the broader history.
How to prepare for your first house call appointment
A few simple steps make the visit flow smoothly.
- Have your medications ready: Gather current medications and supplements in their original bottles. If you're on a lot of pills, write them down with dosages. Dr. Redcross reviews every medication on the first visit to catch interactions or duplicates that office records might miss.
- Choose a good room: Pick a quiet, well-lit space, a kitchen table, home office, or living room. Not a bedroom unless you're bed-bound. A place where the doctor can lay out equipment and you can sit comfortably for 45 to 60 minutes.
- Write down your concerns: Two or three specific health questions you want to discuss. That unhurried visit time is yours, so use it on what matters most. Don't let it drift into chitchat.
- Save the practice number: Add the office's direct line to your phone contacts so Dr. Redcross's call shows up as a known contact, not an unfamiliar number. You'll be calling this line again when you need follow-up or have a question.
Your next house call is one phone call away
Direct access means you're calling the physician's actual line, not a scheduling desk. 24-7 availability means the same physician who examined you last visit is the one who answers when you call. No routing through an answering service. No waiting for a callback. No "the doctor will call you during office hours."
This is how medicine used to work before volume-driven scheduling replaced it. It's also how it works when you're a Redcross Concierge member. Reach out to Redcross Concierge to schedule your first house call and start building the kind of doctor-patient relationship that thrives in an unhurried, personalized setting. That 15-minute office slot has a place, but this isn't it.