443-853-6898

calls and asks for me (can not pronounce my last name). has an accent and is hard to understand. wants to have a "home service" available from my medical insurance (who, according to this gentleman, was sent out a week ago). no letter...hang up!

Keeps calling.  Refuse to answer.  Never leaves a message - so it can't be that important.

I am TIRED OF THESE 2-3X wkly calls!!!!!!!!!!!  wants to have a "home service" available from my medical insurance ...hang up! I NEVER gave my cell # for _this_

stop calling me, you are looking for someone else with anyway and he is not at this tnumber

Keeps calling both my house and cell number without leaving a message.  Do not know anyone in this area.

my understanding is that this is a service being offered by United Health Care called "House Calls".  They want you to set up an appointment to have a physician's assistant come to your house to do a medical exam.  It's an optional service they offer, not mandatory, but they are relentless with the calls.  They even follow up with a letter to members asking for updated contact info.  An insurance company rep coming into my house to invade my privacy?  NOT!  Is anything sacred anymore?

...Otay kids and fellow elders, I've got the straight skinny on this number. After having been pummeled with 5-7 calls a day for the past three weeks - including weekends and after 9pm CST, ferchrissakes! - I decided to get to the bottom of the matter and share the results here on 800notes as this site has helped me numerous times in the past in determining whether or not to block the number. In this case, it turns out that HouseCalls is a legit service provider. Sort of. My research determined the following facts about HouseCalls and how they operate:

a) First off, HouseCalls is a legit service provided by Care Improvement Plus. It's offered once a year to their members free of charge - or so they claim - and that it's part of their efforts to "find new ways [CIP] can assist you with your medical issues."

b) It does involve a home visit by a "qualified medical practitioner", which for quite a number of people is an uncomfortable situation, as these days the only time a "qualified medical practitioner" comes to your door is when an EMS team has pulled up in an ambulance to take you to the ER. Or the morgue. In fact, most patients -prefer- to have their medical issues examined and addressed at an actual medical facility, especially if they don't want other family members involved, or even if they simply don't let strangers in their homes regardless of their credentials. Legitimacy of said notwithstanding.

Side Fact: Less than 3% of general practitioners make house calls, and that's only if the patient is a total invalid and is located within 1/2 of a mile from the doctor's place of practice. That number is expected to drop to less than 1% once Obamcare really starts fracking with the health industry.

c) Now, on the subject of credentials, here's where things get a bit sticky the CIP reps - five separate calls to verify the info the reps gave did not change from call to call - refused to confirm/deny/clarify whether this "qualified medical practitioner" was a licensed MD, and if so what specialty was he practicing in. This is *very* important for anyone who is under medical care for any reason, for while it's not a -bad- thing to seek a second opinion, those second opinions are only good if you're getting them from someone who's actually a *physician*, and one who has a good deal of experience with whatever conditions you have medical-wise. For all you know, this "practitioner" may just be a palm reader or a faith healer picking up a bit of side work for Christnukkah money. And as you'll see, "faith healer" might not be far off the mark.

d) After doing some further research - including calling my own Beloved Quack, my Pain Meds Specialist, and four other licensed and fully qualified physicians, one of whom I've known since we were in grade school together - I've found out why CIP won't clarify just what a "qualified medical practitioner" is. Turns out that whoever visits you isn't a licensed doctor with any experience. Who they send is either a registered nurse or a limited-license nurse practitioner - i.e., a nurse who can prescribe a certain range of medications and/or approve refills, but 3/4ths of them cannot prescribe any pain killers stronger than Tramadol, FYI. By most accounts whoever winds up knocking on your door are usually kids fresh out of med school, and who are trained more along the lines of foisting "medical educational agitprop" in an effort to convince you to get your regular physician/beloved quack to order up additional treatments that they can bilk Medicare for.

...Best example of this sort of brainwashing would be that of the average diabetes trainer, many of whom can be outright annoying and inflammatory in their attempts to shame you into changing your dietary habits based on some generic "one size fits all" diet plan, regardless of whether that plan is heavily centered on foods that you cannot eat due to documented medical diagnosis and prohibitions. And when you try to cut them off to explain these restrictions to them in an honest attempt to not waste either of your valuable time, they almost always take complete and total offense. Which only makes them push their agitprop attempts more vehemently, until either you cave in, shut your mouth and just nod your head in acceptance, or you do what I do: formally dismiss them and remember the next time you're in the hospital, make sure the quack on the floor covering your case knows that you do *not* want any visits from the DTs. Unless they want to give you a new blood sugar meter from Bayer, but that's your call.

e) Speaking of diabetes trainers...well, let me first add that my research showed that while some of the advice these HouseCalls workers have given has reportedly been valid - mostly where getting your home as "cripple-friendly" as possible under Medicare, which is the only advice/service I found no negative commentary - the most damning comments I've received about these "qualified medical practitioners" has to do with - you guessed it - diabetes "training". In almost all cases these actual quacks are pushing advice that is contrary to what the patient's doctor(s) have prescribed for them. Some of their suggestions - i.e., switch to a diet of nothing but greens and filtered tap water - come across as pure holistic [***]. They have even told patients to alter their insulin regimen - especially telling them to *lower* their dosages?!? -without consulting with the patient's physician(s) first! That's like letting someone giving a drunk a flask of Jack to drink as they drive home well over the legal limit, ferchrissakes!

...So, to make a short story long and to hopefully put everyone's concerns to rest: the number's to a legit service by a legit company, but "legit" doesn't necessarily mean "in your best interests". My advice to you would be this: talk to your physician and any clinical specialists you're currently seeing for medical care. Explain to them who has been calling, and ask them if you should allow these "specialists" into your home for whatever voodoo and sleight-of-handwaving they want to foist on you. Odds are they'll tell you what my Beloved Quack advised me to do, and that's to speak to a Care Improvement Plus supervisor to make sure they're aware you're not interested in the service, and on the advice of your physician(s) they should cease with the incessant calls.

...On the other hand, should they tell you "go ahead, it's free. Whaddya gotta lose?", then under *no* circumstances do you act on any advice, suggestions, or alterations regarding your medical regimen until you've spoken again with your doctor(s) to verify whether or not you've been fed at least three lines of crap. Especially where your prescription drugs are concerned, because you'd be far safer taking advice from a drug dealer and two of his best customers than someone who bought his shingle from a mail-order diploma factory.

,,,Anyway, I hope to God/Yahweh/Roddenberry that this settles the matter once and for all about this number, and that the advice I've given actually helps prevent someone from getting jerked around - especially if it keeps them from being anything other than *alive*. Feel free to quote and repost this wherever needed, and especially on this thread. Some people tend not to read all the comments on a complaint thread before posting their own, and tend to miss it when someone's already posted the answers to whatever questions they've posted in their angst. But that's the way online forums have worked for over 25 years now, and now as then the only thing we can do is reply "if you search through this thread, you'll find..."

Oh, and  while it's on my mind, just to prove I've posted this in all honesty and in good faith and concern for all of you getting annoyed with the incessant calls from CIP, every single one of you have a Merry Christnukkah, Happy Hannukkah, Drunken Saturnalia, Modified-For-Parental-Survival Kwanzaa-With-Santa-and-Presents, Tasty Japanese Sponge Cake Exchange, Jul/Yule/Juleaften, Joyeux Noel, Weihnachten, Boxing Day, and/or a Festive Moons of Mepzor - yes, the Mepzor Moons are in alignment during Christnukkah this year, so everyone - especially those in France - rub your cones together in cosmic harmony, and consume mass quantities of fermented grain extracts and oil-immolated thin sliced starch tubers!

<B>And above all else</B>, whatever you're celebrating, whatever your beliefs - or lack thereof - have a <U>safe</U> one. Otherwise, you might wind up needing a visit from one of these "qualified medical practitioners", and from the look of things we may not want one of those sliding down the chimney!!

Side note: If you're a member of Care Improvement Plus, then these calls are immune to the Do Not Call List regulations, as the service is part of CIP, and as a member they have a right to contact you for any reason unless you specify what sort of calls/offers you do not wish to receive from them.

You will get correspondence in the mail.  Just got off the phone with UHC and it is legit.  They want to send a health practitioner
to your home to review your Meds (if any), Blood Pressure and review your health concerns.  These findings are reviewed
with your PCP.  If you received this call, you have UHC Medicare in one shape or form.  I agree with you in that the UHC Rep had an accent.  UHC and BS/BS are providing this service with no co-pay (a friend lives in NJ and has BS/BS).  I have agreed to the visit (I told them my PCP is within walking distance, but it means nothing...they will visit you at your convenience and make sure you are getting they services you require).  BTW I even told them that I have a dog.

Additional notes:  Call the your insurance company and verify whether it is a legit service.  As someone in a rather long
post mentioned, you get nothing for nothing.  I will be calling my insurance provider again and checking credentials.  In addition, please note that BC/BS does not send a doctor they send a Nurse.  I don't think any company will provide send
a Doctor. ..RN, RNP, LPN nothing less.

My hubs is on AARP United Benefits Medicare.  We allowed a visit from a guy who was a RN who did review meds, take vitals, etc.  After he left we discussed it and wondered if they were checking for fraud, over utilization, etc.  It was easy, painless, safe, and probably helps keep the lid on costs.  I will be eligible for Medicare in January and just got a call from these guys, which I ignored because I didn't recognize the number.  Now that I know what its about,  I will call them back and set up my home visit.  It's no skin off my nose, and if it helps them provide more cost effective services, hooray!

I fell for the pitch when I had UnitedHealth.  They scheduled someone for such and such a date but wouldn't specify a time.  I was home all day and no one showed up.  Next time they called I said give me a firm time and we'll try again.  They refused.  So I told them to stick it where the sun don't shine.

"United Health Care" - Caller ID says "House Calls." They ignore the "Do Not Call" list, so I consider them a scam. They call every three days.

This is very legitimate if its United Health care.They  send a nurse  that checks you out for any obvious problems.takes BP,other vital measurements and you provide an urine sample which is analyzed and could determine a number of illnesses.It take about an hour and is free.Well worth scheduling this.

I have a doctor and do not need any one coming to my home.  I do not want strangers on my property .

my understanding is that this is a service being offered by United Health Care called "House Calls".  They want you to set up an appointment to have a physician's assistant come to your house to do a medical exam.  It's an optional service they offer, not mandatory, but they are relentless with the calls.  They even follow up with a letter to members asking for updated contact info.  An insurance company rep coming into my house to invade my privacy?  NOT!  Is anything sacred anymore?
Sent letter back to United Health Care (house calls) that they can contact my health care provider. Think this is a Medicare requirement....who knows? Sick of these calls...now using different phone number.....BLOCKED! I didn't give them my cell phone....how did they get it in the first place?

After reading everyone's post, I called United Healthcare and spoke to Customer Service. The Representative wasn't familiar with the number so she called it to verify it for me. It turns out it was for the home health assessment that I had last year. Last year the call came from Social Services Coordinator. The same nurse will be coming again this year. I found last years visit to be helpful since a few months before there was a nurse from the drug company that makes one of my MS drugs who came to give me instructions on how to give myself injections who deemed me unfit to live alone after I told her about a stupid accident I had in my home and injured my leg pretty bad. One of those DAH moments anyone can have when they are looking at the TV instead of where they are walking. She was trying to have me put in a State run group home and my cats put in a shelter as well as calling my doctors trying to get them to help her get the State's Social Services involved to force me out of my home. The nurse who came for United Healthcare was impressed that my mind is very sharp and that I do so well living alone. Oh, and adored my kitties. Plus the nurse gave me a really nice fleece blanket and a tote bag. It's legit and the nurse did do a few tests that my doctors don't do during my regular visits.

Very disabled Vet.
Do not call me again!!!

Very disabled Vet.
Do not call me again!!!

After several calls from this number - no one is there when I say "hello", and after reading Chinga Tuu's lengthy message on this caller (Dec 2013), I blocked their number.

He called me 45 times today ugg annoyed