Is there a doctor in the house?

Physicians Richard Patragnoni and Jocelyn Won revive house calls with a new business.As the medical industry races ahead with technological advances, physician Richard Patragnoni is taking patients back to a simpler time, when milk was delivered by truck and doctors made regular house calls.

Patragnoni and Dr. Jocelyn Won are the pioneers behind HouseCall Physicians, a small Newport Beach practice seeking to revive the lost art of the medical house call. Many of the methods from the traditional practice carry over into their work today, Patragnoni said, but the demands of the patients have changed.

“People just don’t have time to get sick anymore,” explained Patragnoni, who said his small practice was as much about convenience as about eliminating long doctor’s office waits.

A former urgent care physician, Patragnoni said he regularly heard complaints from patients who spent hours stuck in waiting rooms.

With that in mind, Patragnoni sought to create a practice that allowed patients to do the waiting in their own homes, and usually for less than an hour.

Those in need of Patragnoni’s service can call his practice’s call center and be screened by a customer-service representative. Those with emergency conditions are instructed to dial 911, but most patients with common medical problems give the operator a brief medical history and then wait for a doctor to arrive.

Once at the patient’s home, Patragnoni can perform a full examination, treat small lacerations and wounds, and even write prescriptions so the patient doesn’t have to find a pharmacy.

“This practice has made me look at what we do in the clinic,” he said. “Do we really need the exam table? About 85% of what you do can take place in the patient’s home.”

Patragnoni said each physician handles six to eight patients a day. Many are hotel guests visiting the beaches, working near John Wayne Airport or enjoying Disneyland. The typical visit costs about $200 and is usually reimbursed between 50% and 70% by health insurance companies.

As the practice develops, Patragnoni said he would like to offer more in-home medical services to patients, including blood work and injections. He even plans to help other physicians around California start their own house-call services, modeled after his Orange County practice.

“The biggest challenge logistically has been the reinvention of the house call and the creation of awareness,” he said. “We know that many patients are frustrated with the current system. We just have to educate them that there are other services out there.”20060213iuljzxncWENDI KAMINSKI / DAILY PILOT(LA)To demonstrate his “HouseCall Physicians” business, Dr. Richard Patragnoni poses at his Newport Beach home “ with his 16-month-old daughter, Mei Ling Patragnoni, and Aliso Viejo resident, Cheryl Odako, who pose as house call patients.