More hospitals are competing for male patients, especially those who avoid physicians and healthcare at all costs, according to a New York Times report.
Women's health centers are basically a standard in healthcare, but more hospitals are recognizing the "enormous untapped market" of men who avoid trips to their physician for anything other than a gunshot wound, according to the report. Studies have suggested males' avoidance of physicians is attributable to their need to project control, their sense of invulnerability and their reluctance to seek help.
NYU Langone Medical Center opened a health center devoted to men six months ago, one of two centers to open in the last two years. The other was NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's Iris Cantor Men's Heath Center, which opened in summer 2012, according to the report. One of the first such centers in the nation is the Men's Health Center at Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., which opened in 2008.
The clinics include a mostly male medical staff and focus on prostate and sexual health, among other specialties. For instance, the staff at NYU Langone's center includes orthopedists, dermatologists, psychiatrists, physical therapists, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, neurologists and a specialist in male fertility. The clinics do not turn away female patients, but their target audience is made quite clear.
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