IF YOU NEEDED A DOCTOR YOU'D KNOW IT:

Guys, Do You Need A Physical? (Morning Call, 10/03/09)

Getting an annual physical is good for you, right? Don't be so sure, suggests a study published in September in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study suggests that, for healthy adults, the benefits of an annual physical may not justify the financial cost.

"A lot of doctors don't think physical exams are very helpful," says the author, Ateev Mehrotra, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a policy analyst at Rand. The president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Rick Kellerman, agrees: "The annual physical is not necessary." [...]

In fact, the annual physical is too often a formality that siphons time and money from the healthcare system without offering definitive improvements for patients in return, argues H. Gilbert Welch, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School.