Survey: Many physicians say patients in their own practices receive too much care

About half, though, said they were giving their patients "the right amount of care." In other news, a study from the Archives of Internal Medicine, according to Medscape, concluded that more frequent office visits by patients leads to faster diabetes control.

National Journal: Survey Shows Doctors Admit To Overtreating Patients
Nearly half of doctors believe their patients are getting too much medical attention, but they'd love to compare notes with other physicians, according to a survey published on Monday. Just over half say they are giving their patients the right amount of care, but the doctors also believe the U.S. health system is set up to encourage overtreatment and over-testing, a team writes in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr. Brenda Sirovich from the Outcomes Group at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and colleagues surveyed 627 doctors from an American Medical Association database by mail. More than 40 percent of the respondents said patients in their own practice received too much medical care, while only 6 percent said their patients got too little care. About 52 percent said they provided just the right amount of care (Fox, 9/26).

Medscape: More Frequent Office Visits Lead to Faster Diabetes Control
Patients with diabetes mellitus who visited their primary care physicians once every 1 to 2 weeks were more likely to achieve clinical goals than patients who visited less frequently, according to a study published in the September 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. ... [ Allan H. Goroll, MD said] little information is available about the nature of the visits, or what transpired that caused a change in patient behavior. "Understanding how best to deliver ... care and change patient behavior, especially in primary care settings, is going to be as important as knowing what care to prescribe," he writes (Kling, 6/26).