By Melissa Knopper

CHICAGO, May 08 (Reuters Health) - A Dartmouth University Medical School researcher debunked the idea that more visits to a physician will automatically lead to a better outcome for patients.

During his speech here, Dr. John Wennberg, editor of the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare said, "There is no evidence that more care is better care." For example, Wennberg's research found that patients who saw their physician every 3 weeks in the last 6 months of their lives did not live any longer than those who stayed at home.

Similar to the US Census, the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare provides a snapshot of healthcare trends in different markets across the country. Using data from Medicare records, it evaluates how well medical procedures work, how healthcare resources are distributed, and how to improve the quality of care in America.

Based on the data in the study, Wennberg concludes the Medicare system is flawed because it provides lower premiums and more benefits--such as prescription coverage and transportation to the doctor's office--in some states, like Florida, while seniors in other areas must pay more for fewer services.

In fact, a Minneapolis senior citizen group recently convinced the Minnesota attorney general to sue the federal government in an attempt to correct the problem.

Statistics in the 1999 Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare show, for example, that Medicare paid 6.5 times more money to send people from Miami to visit specialists than for patients from Minneapolis.

"In American healthcare, geography is destiny," Wennberg declared. Instead of raising taxes, Wennberg suggested that the government could trim $21 billion of waste from the system and use that money to offer prescription drug benefits to Medicare patients in all states.

http://www.doctorbob.com/ - 05/10/2000