Primary care providers perform more neurologic visits than neurologists among Medicare beneficiaries

Rationale, aims and objectives Little is known about which medical providers, other than neurologists, are involved in the care of neurologic conditions. We aimed to describe the current distribution of outpatient neurologic care by provider type. Methods We conducted a restrospective, cross-sectional analysis using a 20% national sample claims database that contains information on medical care utilizations from adult Fee-for-Service Medicare beneficiaries in 2015. We identified patient visits for evaluation and management services for common neurologic conditions and by medical provider type. The main outcome was the proportion of visits for neurologic conditions by medical provider type, both in aggregate and across neurologic conditions. Results 40% of neurologic visits were performed by primary care providers (PCPs) and 17.5% by neurologists. The most common neurologic conditions were back pain (49.3%), sleep disorders (8.0%), chronic pain/abnormality of gait (6.4%), peripheral neuropathy (5.9%), and stroke (5.5%). Neurologists cared for a large proportion of visits for Parkinson's disease (75.6% vs 20.8%), epilepsy (70.9% vs 26.6%), multiple sclerosis (63.9% vs 26.2%), other central NS disorders (54.2% vs 24.9%), and tremor/RLS/ALS (54.0% vs 31.2%) compared to PCPs. PCPs provided a greater proportion of visits for dizziness/vertigo (57.8% vs 9.3%) and headache/migraine (50.4% vs 35.0%) compared to neurologists. Conclusions PCPs perform more neurologic visits than neurologists. With the anticipated increased demand for neurologic care, strategies to optimize neurologic care delivery could consider expanding access to neurologists as well as supporting PCP care for neurologic conditions.

Automated summary

This study reveals that primary care providers are responsible for more neurologic visits in outpatient settings compared to neurologists. Different neurologic conditions are managed by different types of medical providers, and there are significant variations in the proportion of visits between PCPs and neurologists for certain conditions.