Barriers to Men’s Healthcare

Patient Imperatives in the face of professional controversy

Virgil SimonsFounder & PresidentThe Prostate Net, Inc.®

Pathways to Cancer Awareness Access Environment Lifestyle Culture Genetics Every cancer is different

National Healthcare Quality Report - 2007

•“Preventive healthcare lags significantly behind other gains in healthcare.”

•Access to care and information varied widely between racial/ethnic groups and by socio-economic status

• Source: www.ahrq.gov

The Prostate Net Survivor led non-profit corporation

(1996) Multi-focal service matrix Focus:

Education InterventionResearch

Deliver value

Listening to the Audience:ARS initiative

On-going Concerns

“Lack of educational efforts” “Will screening be part of healthcare reform” “...men of color MUST take care of themselves” “the quality of the faculty was over the top” “more time for advanced disease needed”

Defining Barriers to Men’s Participation in

HealthcareAttitudinal Barriers

Gender Role Stoicism Work Role StoicismDistrust of the Health Care SystemFatalism: “you’ve got to die of

something.”Maladaptive Self-Reliance: “A ‘man’ takes

care of his own problems.”

Early Disease Detection Barriers

U.S. vs European conflict on screening No consensus among U.S. agencies Lack of “Risk” determination Compared to Women:

Men are less likely to utilize the health care system

Men are less likely to carry health insuranceMore likely to delay seeking healthcare

Primary Care Impact

• Decline in doctors entering into Primary Care Medicine

• Resistance to greater use of nurse practitioners

• Continuing shortage of nurses

• Closing of ER’s• Resistance to

“Convenient Care” clinics

Complicating the Issue

Women vs. Men Comparable incidence and mortality Research funds - 3X for breast cancer Public health staffing - inconsistent Government commitment - no

agencies Media focus - inordinately female focus Men don’t communicate

The Benefits of Positive Men’s Health to the

Community Reducing or controlling rising health care costs

through preventing costly, advanced disease Reducing economic costs of preventable male

illness, including lost time from work, disability, diminished income, and reduced work productivity

Increased attention to men’s health ultimately holds the potential to bolster and uplift the health status of both genders

Gender health is not either/or, It’s both or neither

Expectations

Survivorship: What is being done to extend my life NOW

Focus:On the patient, not the system

Results:Need balance between the future and present

Think Globally:Utilize data and results from the rest of the

world

So…what’s the answer