10/03/2023
ATLANTA — October 3, 2023 – LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, a leading provider of data and analytics, released new insights on the latest national and regional provider density trends for primary and specialty care. The analysis explores how often prescriber data changes, the metropolitan areas seeing the biggest change in the number of primary care providers (PCPs) and the metropolitan areas with the highest and lowest number of heart disease patients per cardiologist.
Outflows of providers and coverage ratios can impact a community’s ability to deliver accessible and efficient care, and with a looming shortfall of PCPs1, it’s important to understand where the existing PCPs are located. The analysis reveals the five metropolitan areas with the highest percent increase and decrease of PCPs between June 2022 and June 2023. According to the data, the Vallejo-Fairfield, CA area topped the list with a nearly 40% increase in PCPs. Conversely, the Fayetteville, NC area saw the highest decrease – losing nearly 12% of its PCPs.
As chronic diseases continue to increase, the density of specialty providers becomes paramount. The provider density analysis examines the number of patients with heart disease per cardiologist in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) spanning large, medium, small, and micropolitan areas. The data shows as MSAs get smaller, the number of patients per cardiologist increases substantially, with many rural communities having thousands of heart disease patients per cardiologist. Among major metropolitan areas, Boston has the best ratio with 196 heart disease patients per cardiologist, and Las Vegas has the worst ratio with 824 heart disease patients per cardiologist.
Additionally, the analysis found significant degradation of prescriber data in a short period of time. Over a quarter of prescribers (26%) had at least one change in their contact or license information within a 90-day period. This finding is based on the primary location of more than 2 million prescribers and illustrates the potential for data inaccuracies, creating an additional challenge for patients navigating the healthcare ecosystem.
“Data is an essential element to fueling healthcare’s success, but the continuously changing nature of provider data, when left unchecked, poses a threat to care coordination, patient experience, and health outcomes,” said Jonathan Shannon, associate vice president of healthcare strategy, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Our recent analysis emphasizes the criticality of ensuring provider information is clean and accurate in real-time. With consistently updated provider data, healthcare organizations can develop meaningful strategies to improve provider availability, equitable access, and patient experience, particularly for vulnerable populations.”
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About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis® Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data, sophisticated analytics platforms and technology solutions to provide insights that help businesses across multiple industries and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. For more information, please visit LexisNexis Risk Solutions and RELX.
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