Health Information Technology enables doctor to visit homebound patients

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Health Information Technology enables doctor to visit homebound patients
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January 27, 2010


BY SANDY THORN CLARK

Dr. Tom Cornwell can visit 5,000 homebound patients in the 300 square miles surrounding Central DuPage Hospital.
"Just this morning, I visited a 450-pound 64-year-old with an irregular heartbeat who hasn't left her home in four years. I placed three stickies [heart monitors] on her chest and -- thanks to a wireless machine, a Bluetooth, and technology -- I read her heartbeat on my phone within 60 seconds. It's technology that allows us to do EKGs, vitals, ultrasounds in the home," Cornwell said.
"How ironic that it was technology that caused home visits by physicians to go away, and now it's technology that makes it possible for us to treat homebound patients," he said.
The 49-year-old is the founding medical director of HomeCare Physicians (HCP), a Wheaton-headquartered non-profit practice that treats the elderly and patients unable to travel to a physician's office or medical facility without great difficulty. Cornwell has made 25,000 home visits -- the most among the 1,400 members of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians -- since October of 1993.
A graduate of the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Cornwell contends he has always been drawn to those disenfranchised from the traditional health-care system: "I have always felt God created me to do this -- it's my calling," he said.
Cornwell became committed to the disenfranchised while volunteering at an inner-city Christian health center that cared for uninsured patients referred from Cook County Hospital and during mission trips to Mexico and Africa.
To illustrate the success of HomeCare Physicians -- which includes partners Dr. Paul Chiang and geriatric nurse practitioner Ancy Zacharia -- Cornwell cites the medical history of a 56-year-old patient he has renamed Suzanne-Marie to protect her privacy: Before receiving regular home visits, Suzanne-Marie had been to the emergency room 79 times and had 18 hospital visits between 2005 and 2008. Since her first HCP visit in December of 2008, Suzanne-Marie has returned to the emergency room only twice, has reduced her medication by four prescriptions and has had zero hospitalizations.
"Suzanne-Marie's case is extraordinary," Cornwell said. "She is now getting the primary care she needs to keep her where she wants to be -- at home. Two of her prescriptions were more than $200 a month, and she was able to drop four. The savings for her and her insurance provider are incredible, all because she is now getting regular care at home."
Cornwell said that home care isn't for everyone. The average age of an HCP patient is 80, although there are some younger patients, including a veteran of the Iraq War. Most patients have neuromuscular conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) or spinal injuries. The most common charge for a home visit is $173.22.
HomeCare Physicians (www.homecare physicians.org) is supported by Central DuPage Hospital and private gifts.
Cornwell is an advocate of the Independence at Home Act -- introduced in Congress in 2008 to provide affordable health care so that Americans can remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.
He is optimistic about the future of home health care. "Ten years from now, there will be definite growth in home care," he predicts.
Cornwell resides in Palatine with his wife, Leslie; son, Nathan, 12, and daughter, Angie, 10.
He admits the job he loves and the rewards of serving on medical organizations and boards conflict with hobbies -- such as watching his beloved Cubs -- but he does prioritize participation in Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Arlington Heights.
How long does Cornwell plan to continue his house calls? "As long as I don't get in the way of God's work," he said.
Sandy Thorn Clark is a local freelance writer.