Should GPs ask patients about their financial concerns? Exploration through collaborative research.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that GPs can be early discoverers of financial problems interacting with their patients' health. When there are no clear medical explanations for the health problems that prompted the consultation, the best therapy may thus be financial counselling.Key pointsMany people live on the edge of financial ruin and struggle to keep track of their finances, but limited research exists that investigates associations between finance and health.In a collaborative health services research experiment 11% of the patients at a Norwegian GP office had health problems that caused them financial concerns, or vice versa.GPs found it helpful to ask patients about their financial concerns when no clear medical explanations for their health problems was found. Then free financial counselling services could be offered. PMID: 32297548 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Primary Care - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Scand J Prim Health Care Source Type: research