Survey: Doctors say recession lowers patient volume - Washington Business Journal:

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The organization surveyed its membership and found that 54 percent reportex seeing fewer patientsduring “thde most recent economic downturn (the past year or • 89 percent agreed that their “patients have expressed concerns recently over their abilityh to pay for their health care • 60 percent said they had “seen more healtj problems caused by their patients forgoing needed preventive • 66 percent indicated taking specific actionas — such as discounting fees, increasintg charity care, providing free screenings and moving patientsd to generic prescriptions — to help patientsx manage.
“The findings are troubling,” AAFP Presideng Ted Epperly said in a Tuesdayhconference call. “We’re seeing patients basically be sicker.” He said one associatioj member attributed a patient death to deferred care caused by the The member saida 45-year-old diabetiv male died of a heart attaci after not visiting the doctor for management of the “What we are seeing with many people with chronic diseases, such as diabetes (or) hypertensionn is that they are goingy without or cutting back on medications,” said Epperly, a familhy physician in Boise, “Unfortunately, if not handled this can lead to emergency room visitd and hospitalizations that could have been avoided.
” The American Academhy of Family Physicians is a nationalp association of family doctors. It was foundedf in 1947 and has morethan 94,000 members in all 50 the District of Columbia, Puertio Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the uniformexd services.