Sir.—In his essay on house calls, editorial board member Richard Blumberg reminisces about the good old days when doctors still made them.1 After discussing their advantages and disadvantages, he concludes that house calls will probably remain archaic. Like much of the public, however, Dr Blumberg mistakenly believes that house calls are a thing of the past.
Family physicians and general practitioners continue to spend a small, but important, part of their time visiting patients in their homes. In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians, half of the family physicians spent between 0 and 6 hours a weeks making house calls.2 A more recent national survey showed that almost two thirds (62%) of recent graduates of a family practice residency program made house calls: about half made them more often than once a month, and half less often. Eleven percent made between one and