Annual Physicals Not Helpful for Healthy Adults, Physicians Say
More than 44 million Americans visit their primary care provider (PCP) each year for their annual physical, but according to a recent Kaiser Health News report, studies simply do not support the practice.
Related Content:
Patient-Centered Medical Homes Bettering Primary Care, Analysis Finds
Survey Measures Medication Adherence Counseling Provided by Physicians
Ateev Mehrotra, MD, PCP, professor of health policy, Harvard Medical School, told the publication he believes annual physicals for adults should be eliminated altogether.
“When I, as a doctor, say I do not advocate for the annual physical, I feel like I’m attacking moms and apple pie,” Dr. Mehrotra said. “It seems so intuitive and straightforward, and [it is] something that has been part of medicine for such a long time.”
But he is not alone. The Society for General Internal Medicine, too, recommends PCPs avoid physicals for healthy asymptomatic adults.
Part of the argument against annual visits involves cost. Visits usually cost insurers $150 each, adding up to what Dr. Mehrotra estimated as $10 billion annually, according to the report. Another concern is false positives, when a provider orders a slate of follow-up tests for a problem that does not really exist, which can rack up additional unnecessary expenses and potentially cause the patient harm.
Older adults are the exception, advised David Fleming, MD, president, American College of Physicians. Elderly patients should visit their providers regularly for health assessments.
Michael Rothberg, MD, MPH-AAMC, PCP, researcher, Cleveland Clinic, told the publication he avoids providing annual physicals as much as possible.
“I generally do not like to frighten people, and I do not like to give them diseases they do not have,” Dr. Rothberg told Kaiser Health News. “I mostly tell my family, ‘If you are feeling well, stay away from doctors. If you get near them, they will start to look for things and order tests because that is what doctors do.’”
“The flip side of that is if you are not feeling well, do not keep it to yourself. Do not minimize it. Do not pretend it is not there,” he said.—Jolynn Tumolo
Reference
Gold J. Ritual, not science, keeps the annual physical alive. Kaiser Health News. April 6, 2015.
