Apply specific treatments or interventions or in support of family members and supervise preventive activities to favor the recovery and rehabilitation of patients prevented from going to the external consultation, is the goal of the home medical care program in the first level of care of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
Dr. Nora Zárate Reyes, Coordinator of Medical Programs of the Institute, explained that the patient can be valued by a family doctor, social worker, nurse specializing in family medicine or geriatrics, in the units of family medicine and if necessary, referring to the second level for the intervention of other specialties.
He explained that when the doctor visits the right holder at his home, he makes an assessment and indicates to relatives the need for the medical unit to provide disability, medication recipes, application for laboratory studies or X -rays and if necessary, the following visit.
He commented that home support is also done to assist relatives for patient death.
The schedule for this modality of consultation, which can be telephone or face -to -face, he reported, goes from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and applies to patients who, due to their physical or psychic condition, are prevented from going to the Family Medicine Unit.
The IMSS Medical Programs Coordinator said that this first level medical service modality for the right -of -law registered 14,628 in 2024.
Likewise, Dr. Zárate Reyes commented, when the situation requires it, the patient or the family receives a reference issued for hospitals care in the second level of care.
He stressed that in order to require the home visit, it can be face -to -face requested by the relative or by telephone to its affiliation family medicine unit, with the following data: patient name, social security number, office, turn, domicile of the right holder and telephone number.
In the case of the medical visit at home, it added, it is necessary to present a national health card, domicile of the patient, telephone number, official identification and name of the person who requests home medical care.
