MS patients in US face long waits for neurology care, study finds
Waits for first visit top 50 days for most, despite high need
Written by |
A person sits in a waiting room.
People in the U.S. with commercial insurance wait nearly 50 days on average for a first visit to neurologist, and average wait times are significantly longer, by about four days, for those with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study found.
The number of neurologists in a given area didn’t influence wait times, the researchers said.
“It is not a simple supply and demand issue,” John P. Ney, MD, a neurology professor at Yale University and the study’s lead author, said in a press release from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). “We found that how long you wait to see a neurologist depends on things like how serious your condition is, your sex, where you live, and what kind of insurance you have.”
The study, “Neurology Wait Times After Primary Care or Emergency Department Visits Among the Commercially Insured Population in the United States 2019–2023,” was published in Neurology, the medical journal of the AAN. The work was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Neurologists are doctors who specialize in diagnosing and treating conditions of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves that run throughout the body to control sensation and movement. For people with neurological disorders such as MS, neurologists are usually the main care provider, guiding the diagnosis process and treatment decisions.
Insurance claims show wait times vary with condition
Someone experiencing a first episode of MS symptoms or other neurological symptoms typically won’t go to a neurologist right away. Patients will usually see a primary care physician or go to an emergency department first, and these doctors will refer them to neurologists for further testing.
A team of U.S. scientists wanted to investigate how long it takes for patients to see a neurologist after first seeking care.
The researchers analyzed 2019-2023 insurance claims data from more than 114,000 people in the U.S. They identified each patient’s first visit with a neurologist and most recent visit with a primary care or emergency doctor, and calculated the length of time between the two visits.
Results showed that the average wait time was about 50 days. But wait times weren’t the same for everyone. For example, they were generally shorter for women, by about a week on average, relative to men.
Data also suggested that wait times varied depending on the condition each person was ultimately diagnosed with. Those experiencing stroke, traumatic brain injury, or unexplained dizziness or vertigo usually saw a neurologist earlier, by six to eight days on average. But for people with MS, average wait times were significantly longer, by four days on average.
“These findings illustrate how critical it is to create a world where an MS diagnosis can be made in hours, not months or years – where faster answers lead to less uncertainty, less damage and better health,” the National MS Society, which was not directly involved in the research, said in a press release.
Type of insurance and geography also influenced wait times. Patients with consumer-driven health plans — insurance models with cheaper premiums but higher out-of-pocket expenses — tended to wait 2.4 fewer days for a first neurologist visit.
“If we want faster, fairer access to neurological care, we may need to look at systemic and structural issues, such as the number of neurologists in certain subspecialty areas, trying out new methods for triaging patients and redesigning the referral process,” said Ney. “These results show we still need a better understanding of why some patients wait longer than others. Future research can help pinpoint where delays occur—and test solutions that get patients to the right neurological care sooner.”
The researchers noted that their analysis was limited by its reliance on insurance data, which doesn’t include important information, such as the severity of patients’ symptoms or the exact timing of referrals. And because the database included only people with commercial insurance, the findings may not be generalized to people with other types of healthcare coverage.
Leave a comment
Fill in the required fields to post. Your email address will not be published.