Study challenges rural lack of access to surgery - Forbes

  • By zz-omni-cms
  • May 24, 2011


A surprising study of nearly 46 million Medicare patients says older residents in rural areas are more likely to have any of nine common surgeries than people in cities.

...

"When I first saw the result, I looked at it and said maybe I got it backwards," said lead author Dr. Mark Francis, a researcher at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso. The study doesn't indicate where rural residents had surgery. It's likely many had to travel some distance, which would be risky when urgent surgery is needed.


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