cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/14297944
Millions of Americans likely to develop and die from heart disease live in cardiology deserts — areas of the country without a single heart specialist to care for them.
New research published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that nearly half of all counties in the U.S. lack a practicing cardiologist.
Most of those counties are rural, with residents who tend to be sicker in general with complex medical problems.
“The counties that do not have cardiologists probably need this type of specialty care even more,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Haider Warraich, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
New research published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that nearly half of all counties in the U.S. lack a practicing cardiologist.
Most of those, 86.2%, are rural counties with lower income levels, less access to healthy food and fewer health care providers overall.
“That’s actually pretty good for a lot of our patients,” said Dr. John Wagener, a structural interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Wagener said his team also offers consultation with a vast number of both independent providers and those within the Avera Health network.
Dr. Steve Ommen, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said it’s not necessarily the number of miles people have to travel for appointments that prevents them from getting the care they need.
Indeed, Morgan of the National Rural Health Association said that treating patients virtually is a “workable solution moving forward.”
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