The men's health center: Disparities in gender specific health services among the top 50 “best hospitals” in America

Abstract

ObjectiveGender-specific integrated health services have long existed in the arena of women's health care, but men's health centers (MHCs) have only recently emerged as a novel practice model. Here, we seek to evaluate the prevalence and format of MHCs found in the leading academic medical centers in the United States.MethodsThe US News & World Report's Top 50 Ranked Hospitals for Urology was used as our cohort. Data were gathered on the presence of MHCs and types of providers and conditions treated. An equivalent search was performed for women's health centers (WHCs).ResultsSixteen of 50 (32%) promoted some type of MHC, compared to 49 of 50 (98%) offering a WHC. Eight of the top 15 ranked institutions (53%) had an MHC compared to eight of 35 (23%) remaining programs. Six of 16 MHCs incorporated providers from a variety of medical disciplines, including urologists, internists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, and psychologists, while another six of 16 MHCs were staffed solely by urologists. Eight of 16 provided services for exclusively urologic issues, four of 16 offered additional services in treatment of other medical conditions, and four of 16 did not specify.ConclusionA considerable disparity exists between the prevalence of gender-specific health services, with WHCs being much more numerous than MHCs. All but one leading institution had WHCs compared to less than one-third having MHCs. Our findings also highlight the heterogeneous nature of men's health programs, as they exhibit great variability in program type and focus, yet are all being marketed under the “Men's Health” banner.

Informed consent, shared-decision making and a reasonable patient’s wishes based on a cross-sectional, national survey in the USA using a hypothetical scenario

“…Similarly, statistical analysis supported associations between age and gender on the intensity of responses to most questions, and it revealed an effect of income for some of the survey questions. The gender associations may be due to women being higher users of hospital care and hospitals tending to offer many more services targeted to women than to men 14. Older adults may be more likely to be cautious compared with younger adults because of more lifetime hospital experiences.…”

Profile Gender: The Study of Education, Health, Labor, and Social Culture

“…Health care centers generally serve for both men and women, but there are also clinics that cater specifically to women and children. Gender-specific integrated health services have long existed in the arena of women's health care, but men's health centers (MHCs) have only recently emerged as a novel practice model (Choy, et al, 2015). In this regard it is necessary services that help improve the health awareness issues for men.…”

“…In this regard it is necessary services that help improve the health awareness issues for men. As the discipline of men's health continues to develop, health policy and governmental initiatives promoting men's health could aid in increasing public awareness of men's health issues (Choy, et al, 2015). All the people, both men and women and rich and poor have equal opportunities in access to health services.…”

Men’s health in Canada: A national survey of urologists

“…Each likert-type item was analyzed individually. The range of responses (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) for each question were treated as ordinal-level data and the measure of central tendency is expressed as the median response and the interquartile range(IQR).…”

“…A need exists for urologists to recognize systemic issues that may lead to worsening illness in their patients and encourage a multifaceted approach to address these. 4,5 The practice patterns of urologists are variable and may depend upon their subspecialty training and whether a dedicated men's health clinic is affiliated with their center. 6 Information about the practice patterns of Canadian urologists is limited.…”