Open AccessUtilization of medical care following the Three Mile Island crisis.
Author(s) -
Peter S. Houts,
Teh Wei Hu,
R. A. Henderson,
Paul D. Cleary,
George K. Tokuhata
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.74.2.140
Subject(s) - mile , primary care , medicine , family medicine , distress , demography , environmental health , geography , sociology , clinical psychology , geodesy
Four studies are reported on how utilization of primary health care was affected by the Three Mile Island (TMI) crisis and subsequent distress experienced by persons living in the vicinity of the plant. The studies concerned: 1) Blue Cross-Blue Shield records of claims by primary care physicians in the vicinity of TMI; 2) utilization rates in a family practice located near the facility; 3) interviews with persons living within five miles of TMI following the crisis; and 4) responses to a questionnaire by primary care physicians practicing within 25 miles of TMI. All four studies indicated only slight increases in utilization rates during the year following the crisis. One study found that persons who were upset during the crisis tended to be high practice utilizers both before and after the crisis. These results suggest that, while patterns of physician utilization prior to the TMI crisis predicted emotional response during the crisis, the impact of the TMI crisis on subsequent physician utilization was small.