For patients, it means the calming presence of a doctor coming to them. Across the board, medical care is less stressful for patients on their own “turf.” Having access to home-based health care means that.

When you hear the term house call, chances are you imagine a Norman Rockwell-type scene of a kindly white-haired doctor with a black bag open at his feet bent over a child sick in bed with a nervous young mother hovering nearby.

It’s been so long since Americans enjoyed the once-common amenity of doctor house calls that most of us don’t even think of them now.