Miami-area seniors demand expensive doctors

A new study shows Miami-area seniors use more than their fair share of health care services in general but less of one type of health care: primary care. The Dartmouth Atlas research group has previously noted Miami-Dade seniors consume more of the costly services provided by specialists, require more tests and spend more time in intensive care than in other parts of the country. Now research shows they see less of their primary-care physicians, which may explain their higher costs.

The tendency of seniors in Miami-Dade to rush to a specialist and their correspondingly higher health care costs seems to support claims made by Obama administration health care reformers that primary care helps reduce health care costs, in part, by helping to coordinate care and reduce testing duplication and prescription contraindication, which can cause further health problems.

According to researchers, 64.9 percent of seniors in the Miami area visited a primary-care doctor at least once a year from 2003 through 2007. Nationally, 77.6 percent of senior patients visited a primary-care doctor.