Sonora Doctors Make House Calls Standard Care

Two Sonora physicians have made hose calls the heart of a new medical practice. Dr. Bob Uslander and Dr. Matt Personius have opened Sierra House Calls, a new business that focuses on offering home visits for housebound patients with a special focus on elder care.

Uslander, an emergency and urgent care specialist, is the business manager and on-call physician at the partners’ offices in Indian Rock Center. Personius, a family physician who specializes in geriatrics, handles the daily schedule of house calls.

The partners launched their business in February, after working closely with the EDC and completing the EDC’s 12-week NxLevel business course.

Uslander said he and Personius both saw a need for a house call service as a way to better serve elderly patients in our rural area, where services are limited and transportation is a constant problem. As physicians, they can see homebound patients, make a diagnosis and prescribe medications to take care of a problem before it requires an emergency room visit or hospital stay.

The doctors work in cooperation with the Visiting Nurses Association, hospice workers and other physicians to offer more comprehensive home care. Medicare will cover the extra expense of home visits, but few physicians are able to fit them into traditional office practices.

Uslander and Personius found that house call practices are used in some urban areas, and adapted the model for a rural community. They used EDC’s NxLevel course and one-on-one assistance to work through their business plan and solidify ideas.

“We got a tremendous amount of support from the staff,” Dr. Uslander said. “They were very helpful.”

The EDC’s Elizabeth Jones said they have positioned themselves for a big success. “This is a great niche business that fits perfectly with our community needs.”

©EDC February 3, 2003