Do You Have an Annual Physical Scheduled?

Every once in awhile a news item really jumps out an catches my attention, and then I wait to see if further information to see if what caught my attention originally has "legs", and the news about annual physicals appears to be one such item.

When I saw a headline that suggested medical professionals are beginning to tell us NOT to get annual physicals, I simply had to do a double take, rub my eyes and ask my reading buddy, my cat Kal-el, did I see and read that right? For the record, Kal didn't answer, he just licked his paw. At any rate, a news item like that is pretty interesting to me, if for no other reason than I am approaching the age of recommended visits to the doctor for a variety of reasons, and this could throw my whole schedule off.

The opinions out there are suggesting that visiting your physician once per year to simply stick out your tongue, have your chest tapped and asked how you feel most likely isn't going to keep you healthy or improve the quality of or save your life. Not only that, these annual visits that have been conventional wisdom for many years have always cost, and continue to rise and cost us more and more at a time when health care needs are in a national crisis mode.

Now, it should be noted that you are NOT being advised to not see a doctor altogether, but to consider regular visits that will focus on specific preventative measures. Tests that can detect, or advice on the prevention of things like heart disease are some examples of these "focused visits" and can pay far greater dividends than simply opening wide and saying "ahhhh" for your doctor. It may even be possible to schedule multiple tests on one visit to maximize the return on each of these scheduled visits as well.