Home Forums Discussions General Discussion WSJ article on Patients not Using HealthCare

Saw this today, and was curious of the perspective of the practices represented here.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...726626.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

In Part:

"Insured Americans are using fewer medical services, raising questions about whether patients are consuming less health care as they pick up a greater share of the costs.

The drop in usage is showing up as health-care companies report financial results. Insurers, lab-testing companies, hospitals and doctor-billing concerns say that patient visits, drug prescriptions and procedures were down in the second quarter from year-ago levels.

"People just aren't using health-care like they have," said Wayne DeVeydt, WellPoint Inc.'s chief financial officer, in an interview Wednesday. "Utilization is lower than we expected, and it's unusual."

The only persons using less healthcare are those that are uninsured or have high deductible plans.

It is human nature to be less cautious of cost if someone else is paying for it.
The results will be mixed, some people will decide unwisely not to pay for care they need and some people will decise wisely that they don't need that extra test or doctor's visit.
It seems clear to me that some of my patients are not having surgery to treat genuine ( but not life threatening) problems because the family budget is tight and they are worried about future income, not willing to take on extra debt. I suspect some of them are not even coming to the doctor at all... my volume is down, my colleagues are complaining and the hospitals have been reducing staff.
I think the article is correct about what is happening.

Ditto.

Like Deborah said...

Like everything else in the country, we are the exception up here. Of course we have only 12,000 or now about 16,000 in town and our town and extended area (probably upwards of 60,000 now) is growing exponentially. I have experienced a sudden and almost overwhelming increase in my practice. Still able to care for every child but not sure how long I will be able to without another doc here.

hint hint
any Pediatricians want to come up here, write your own ticket and schedule, take call or not... Just help me with the volume. Or go work with the hospital and compete with me. I'll be glad to send any new healthy, insured patients to you and just keep those with special health care needs.

Anyway, the NYT and the WSJ have had articles about this area, the only place in the country with plenty of high paying jobs and a state with a huge excess of funds in the coffers. Not much housing though and some of our patients live in fifth wheels near the closest lake. When it gets cold that will be hard.

Williston, ND is .......

The place with the most people who earn over $100,000 and are also homeless.

There are very few uninsured here.Only about 25 % of my practice uses Medicaid. etc
Our hospital went to critical access a whle back to stay solvent. Now it is so busy it will lose that status or have to turn many admissions away. The other clinics in town have 2-3 week waits for appointments (two large family practice groups) and are searching for new docs.

There are gaps, however. The Mental Health unit closed when the only Psychiatrist in town left for a more sane life with partners and a reasonable caseload. Her Psychologist couldn't take it and ........ We have only one orthopedic surgeon and only one ENT both swamped.

I imagine many here live in places with larger populations so a decrease will be readily noticed. In the ten years I have been here, and 5 of them were when the area was reslly depressed, there have never been enough health care providers to meet the need.

Regards, Lois