Association Between Neighborhood Deprivation and Number of Rheumatology Providers

Geographic disparities in the distribution and practice patterns of rheumatology providers may negatively impact patients with rheumatic diseases. The objective of this study was to describe the distribution of rheumatologists with respect to the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) and to identify differences in practice patterns among Medicare Part D rheumatologist prescribers.

We identified 5,882 rheumatologists who served a mean ± SD of 280 ± 208 Medicare Part D beneficiaries per year. In a Poisson regression model of the number of rheumatologists and the ADI of their practice location, for every increase of 10 on the ADI scale (range 0-100; higher = higher deprivation), there were 20.3% fewer rheumatologists (P < 0.001), resulting in 2.1 times as many rheumatologists per 100,000 people in the first ADI quintile when compared to the fifth ADI quintile.

The number of rheumatologists peaked in 2016 and decreased steadily thereafter across all quintiles. The prescribing rate per 100 beneficiaries was significantly different between quintiles across all studied drug classes except for opioids, but the trends were inconsistent and of unclear clinical significance.

Rheumatologists tended to practice in areas with less deprivation, resulting in twice as many rheumatologists per 100,000 people in the quintile of lowest deprivation as opposed to the quintile with the highest deprivation. Public policy makers should be aware of these data and take steps to mitigate disparities in access to care as the rheumatology workforce shrinks.