DENVER –
Investigators led by Nikki Win, PhD, medical manager/team lead, OMNI Scientific Strategy and Collaborations, US Medical Affairs, Genentech/Roche, found that patients with Parkinson’s disease were referred to a specialist most often, followed by those with MS and those with AD.
The findings were presented at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
National Neurologist Shortage
The national neurologist shortage, coupled with the growing incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, MS, and other conditions has led the AAN and other organizations to call for expanding the role of primary care physicians in the diagnosis and management of neurologic disorders, the leading global cause of disability.
“These neurological conditions are increasing in prevalence and there’s a limited number of neurologists, so we wanted to understand what this looks like in the US,” Dr. Win said.
“There is a need to understand the patient journey from primary care to neurology care, from presentation of a suspected neurological disorder to diagnosis, referral to a specialist, and the time elapsed before the specialist visit for Alzheimer’s disease, MS, and Parkinson’s disease in the US,” Dr. Win added.
Timely and accurate diagnoses of neurologic disorders can optimize treatment outcomes. Because many of these diseases are first detected during a visit with a primary care physician, it is important to understand the timeline from the initial visit to a specialist referral, the investigators noted.
Analyzing Trends in Specialist Referrals
Using claims data from the Optum Normative Health Information database, researchers identified 48,525 adults with Alzheimer’s disease, 26,431 with Parkinson’s disease, and 8169 with MS who received a diagnosis from a primary care physician between 2016 and 2021.
They examined the proportion, timing, and demographic factors associated with referrals from primary care clinicians or other healthcare providers to specialists including neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, and geriatric medicine specialists.
Results showed that patients with Parkinson’s disease were referred to a specialist most often (53%), followed by those with MS (42%) and those with Alzheimer’s disease (27%).
Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease waited the longest for a specialist referral, with a median of 10 months between the time of referral and the first specialist visit compared with 5.7 months for patients with Parkinson’s disease and 2.6 months for MS patients.
“Some patients with common conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, MS, and Parkinson’s disease don’t see a neurologist, and when they do, it can take as long as 10 months,” said Dr. Win.
Using zip code heatmaps, researchers found that the proportion of referrals for all neurologic disorders was higher in the Midwest and Northeast, whereas patients in the South and West were less likely to receive a referral.
Referrals for Alzheimer’s disease were low nationwide, except for some areas of Michigan and New England. California had the lowest referral rate for MS, followed by regions in the South and Northeast. Patients with Parkinson’s disease living in the Midwest and Northeast were more likely than those in the West to receive a specialist referral.
Previous studies have reported regional shortages of neurologists, said Dr. Win. “Our data seem to correlate that in terms of the areas with lower referral patterns, but as to whether that is causative or correlative, we don’t know.”
Odds of referral were also influenced by demographic characteristics such as sex, age, race, and ethnicity, investigators found.
For example, there were fewer referrals with increasing age across all three neurologic disorders, and men were more likely than women to be referred for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Compared with White patients, Parkinson’s disease referrals were less likely among African American, Asian, and Hispanic patients and Alzheimer’s disease referrals were less common among Asian and Hispanic patients.
Insurance status also affected referrals. People with MS and Parkinson’s disease who had commercial insurance were referred more often than were those with Medicare Advantage, said Dr. Win.
She also noted, “Additional research is needed to understand how being referred or not being referred to a neurologist actually impacts patient treatment, care and outcomes.”