But on a recent Sunday, I read a lengthy, front-page article before my morning coffee. I read it standing at the kitchen counter in front of the coffee pot. The dog needed to go out, and there I was, reading the newspaper.

The subject was health-care availability, an area of enormous concern to older adults. The headline was "More May Not Mean Better," and it took a completely different slant on the subject of "demand manage-ment."

Most people respond with a look of mild bewilder-ment when I say the term. It’s defined as "using available medical care appropriately." When we overuse health care resources, costs go up. That means our personal out-of-pocket costs, employer costs, insurance company costs and, ultimately, costs to government.

Demand management focuses on empowering people to make better health-care decisions. For example, if we went to see health providers every time we had an ache in the belly or a rash on an arm, we would not be making good use of available clinical skills, and the bills could be staggering.

The ache might be from overeating or indulging in food not refrigerated in a timely fashion. The rash might be a gardening encounter or a stress reaction. With a little deduction and some thoughtful reflection, we can often come upon a cause, and the remedy, without involving a clinician.

Many health providers give you health-care manuals that help you determine whether a problem warrants a visit to the doctor. Studies have shown that households with these self-care manuals see their physicians 15 to 17 percent less often.

But what the New York Times article suggested is a little different. Researchers have found the more doctors that are available, the more likely we will use them — for bellyaches and rashes and whatever else ails us. It appears that patients in some areas of the country are demanding more care, not necessarily because they are sicker, but because it’s available and they have come to expect it.

As one Dartmouth Medical School expert puts it, "If there are twice as many physicians, patients come in for twice as many visits." The comparison study was between Minneapolis and Miami. With all other things being held constant, except the number of available health practitioners, people in Miami went to their health providers six times more often in the last six months of their lives.

They did not necessarily live longer, but they did spend more time in intensive care units and on feeding tubes. This research is controversial and "too preliminary," but it does prompt me to keep thinking about the concept of demand management.

As my own frequently used home health-care manual puts it, "medical information + your information = wise health decisions." That’s not a headline, but it might be worth considering while you’re drinking your morning coffee. Hey, could it be too much coffee is producing that bellyache?

Sharon Johnson is an assistant professor in family and community development at OSU Extension and a member of the Senior Advisory Council. Reach her at s.johnson@orst.edu.