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News Release
Frequent After-hours Callers to Family Physicians Use More Resources
DENVER (Dec. 8, 2004) — A new study published in the December issue of the Annals of Family Medicine finds that patients who make frequent after-hours telephone calls to family physicians' offices use more health resources than other patients. David E. Hildebrandt, PhD, and John M. Westfall, MD, MPH, of the University of Colorado Denver, co-authored the study.
"Physicians can often identify a small group of patients who call them frequently after-hours. We found that these same patients also have higher use of other medical resources – office visits, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and medications," Westfall said.
The study finds frequent callers are predominantly female patients experiencing anxiety, depression, chronic illness or pain. Compared with other patients, frequent callers have three times as many office visits, medical diagnoses, and medication prescriptions and eight times as many hospital admissions.
Strategies to better meet the needs of these patients, such as education and treatment, particularly to treat their need for care of anxiety, depression and pain, may decrease the numbers of calls and the amount of health services they use, the authors said.
By monitoring the frequency of after-hours telephone calls, frequent callers can be identified and alternative methods of care can be established, notes Hildebrandt, who recommends intensive case management, more aggressive early diagnosis, group visits and effective referral to mental health professionals.
"By identifying patients who call frequently after-hours, physicians can discover a group of patients at risk for higher utilization of other medical resources. Intervening with these patients through education and case management may improve their health and decrease their need for acute medical care," Westfall said.
The University of Colorado Denver is one of three campuses in the University of Colorado system. Located in Denver and Aurora, Colo., the center includes schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry, a graduate school and a teaching hospital. For more information, visit the Web site at www.uchsc.edu.