OBJECTIVE: to identify any urban/rural differences among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the utilization of physician services and MS-focused care, as well as differences in patient perceptions of access and quality. METHOD: data were collected by surveying 1,518 people with MS throughout the United States, equally divided among urban, urban-adjacent rural areas, and more remote rural areas. Standard SAS procedures were used to analyze the results. RESULTS: significantly larger proportions of people with MS in rural areas had a family or general practitioner as their primary physician while a significantly larger proportion of people with MS in urban areas had a neurologist as their primary physician. Rural residents traveled significantly greater distances to receive MS-focused care than their urban counterparts. People with MS living in more remote rural areas averaged less satisfaction with their access to a neurologist and to MS-focused care, and less satisfaction with the quality of care received, than people with MS in urban areas. CONCLUSION: limited availability of MS specialists in rural areas, and greater travel time and distance required to receive care from these providers, present future challenges to providing appropriate and high quality MS-focused care to people living with MS in rural areas.
OBJECTIVE: to identify any urban/rural differences among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the utilization of physician services and MS-focused care, as well as differences in patient perceptions of access and quality. METHOD: data were collected by surveying 1,518 people with MS throughout the United States, equally divided among urban, urban-adjacent rural areas, and more remote rural areas. Standard SAS procedures were used to analyze the results. RESULTS: significantly larger proportions of people with MS in rural areas had a family or general practitioner as their primary physician while a significantly larger proportion of people with MS in urban areas had a neurologist as their primary physician. Rural residents traveled significantly greater distances to receive MS-focused care than their urban counterparts. People with MS living in more remote rural areas averaged less satisfaction with their access to a neurologist and to MS-focused care, and less satisfaction with the quality of care received, than people with MS in urban areas. CONCLUSION: limited availability of MS specialists in rural areas, and greater travel time and distance required to receive care from these providers, present future challenges to providing appropriate and high quality MS-focused care to people living with MS in rural areas.
Authors: Kevin N Alschuler; Gary A Stobbe; Deborah P Hertz; Kurt L Johnson; Gloria von Geldern; Annette Wundes; Piper Reynolds; Kent Unruh; John D Scott Journal: Int J MS Care Date: 2019 Jul-Aug
Authors: Michael T Halpern; Heather Kane; Stephanie Teixeira-Poit; Corey Ford; Barbara Giesser; June Halper; Shana Johnson; Nicholas G LaRocca; Aaron Miller; Steven P Ringel Journal: Int J MS Care Date: 2018 Jan-Feb
Authors: Kurt L Johnson; Deborah Hertz; Gary Stobbe; Kevin Alschuler; Rosalind Kalb; Katharine S Alexander; George H Kraft; John D Scott Journal: Int J MS Care Date: 2017 Nov-Dec
Authors: Michael T Halpern; Stephanie M Teixeira-Poit; Heather Kane; Corey Frost; Michael Keating; Murrey Olmsted Journal: Mult Scler Int Date: 2014-04-24