Tag Archive for: specialized MPN physicians

Barriers to Accessing Specialized Myelofibrosis Care in Rural Areas | Challenges and Solutions

What are common myelofibrosis care barriers in rural areas? Expert Dr. Michael Grunwald from Levine Cancer Institute discusses barriers that myelofibrosis patients in rural areas encounter and solutions for overcoming barriers for improved care.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…oftentimes, specialized MPN physicians and local physicians can partner to coordinate care. I think it is appropriate for patients to pursue this, and I have found that many patients and providers appreciate the partnership.”

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Grunwald, what are the main barriers to accessing specialized care for myelofibrosis patients in rural areas?

Dr. Michael Grunwald:

I think a big barrier is that sometimes it can be hard to find providers who are familiar with the disease, whether it’s primary care providers or hematologist-oncologists. And there are many excellent hematologist-oncologists who practice in rural settings. Most of them in my experience, will be treating every type of cancer and every type of blood disease. So many of these physicians, they might be seeing a patient for colon cancer and then the next patient might be a breast cancer patient, next patient might be a lung cancer patient. Then there might be a patient with a benign blood disease, let’s call it iron deficiency anemia.

And then maybe there might be a patient who has a myeloproliferative neoplasm like myelofibrosis. And so there’s not the same degree of specialization in myeloproliferative neoplasms as you might see in some of the larger cities where the population can support the existence of such specialists. Of course, I’m not talking about every scenario. There might be some rural doctors with a lot of expertise and certainly there’s some large centers that happen to be in areas that are a little bit less populated. So I certainly don’t want my comment to be taken as a all-encompassing or as a definite rule.

But I think it’s a good rule of thumb that we’re going to see more general oncologist-hematologists in rural settings. And that creates a bit of a challenge because many times these oncologists are less familiar with this group of diseases, the myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelofibrosis in specific, which is a rare disease. And they might not know certain of the symptoms that can be associated with myelofibrosis. They might not be up to date on all of the latest scoring systems and risk stratification. They might not be up to date on all the most recent treatments.

Therefore, this creates a little bit of a barrier for the patients and families to overcome as they try to learn about their diseases. Oftentimes, physicians in rural settings will partner with physicians at large centers and try to collaborate in the care of patients. My [ACT]IVATION tip for this question is, oftentimes, specialized MPN physicians and local physicians can partner to coordinate care. I think it is appropriate for patients to pursue this, and I have found that many patients and providers appreciate the partnership.


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