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Patients more confident they can afford care

The increased certainty was particularly strong for their ability to pay for urgent care.

By Emily Berry — Posted Sept. 15, 2009

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A report released in August found patients' confidence in their ability to pay for needed care rose from March to July, suggesting there may be a light at the end of the recession tunnel for doctors.

The survey was conducted four times between March and July, and over that period, average consumer confidence rose by 12%, according to the report. A different set of 3,000 people was interviewed in each survey.

That doesn't mean there's a guarantee that any individual physician office will find it easier to collect payment in coming months, particularly because patients younger than 65, those who were uninsured, and those making less than $50,000 per year expressed much less confidence in their ability to pay than did those with insurance or older than 65.

But the results point to the potential for a recovery for physicians if consumer confidence proves to be the same kind of predictor it is in other sectors of the economy, said Gary Pickens, PhD, co-author of the study for Thomson Reuters' Center for Healthcare Improvement.

The company surveyed 3,000 people by phone and asked about their expectations for the following three months -- whether they expected to have trouble paying for health care services, and whether they anticipating having to delay or cancel doctor visits, diagnostic tests, elective surgery or therapy.

The strongest improvement in confidence was for urgent care, with about 15% more people saying they could pay. In contrast, about 8% more felt confident they could afford routine care.

Pickens said the difference is probably due to patients' perception of how important "routine" care is and to the increased frequency of routine care, which may lead people to feel they can cut back without ill effects. "That may or may not be a rational approach."

The demographic breakdown of answers also revealed which people were least confident: "The young, poor, lower-income individuals appear to be most sensitive to potential deferral," Pickens said.

A pdf of the report is online (link).

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