House calls are making a comeback

A relic from the medical past — the house call — is returning to favor as part of some hospitals' palliative care programs, which are sending teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains and other workers to patients' homes after they are discharged. The goal is twofold: to provide better treatment and to cut costs. Walter Park, 68, of San Francisco says house calls prevented an expensive return visit to the hospital, where he initially stayed for seven weeks after a heart attack in 2012. After his discharge, palliative care specialists from the University of California, San Francisco, were among those who visited his home to monitor his physical and emotional health.