All my Rx’s come from Texas
February 18, 2010 – 4:35 pm by Steven NilesSK&A, A Cegedim Company, has recently released a report, “Top 50 U.S. ZIP Codes With Most Physicians,” which as the name implies provides a list of the densest groupings of U.S. physicians geographically. Interestingly, among the top 11 zip codes, four are located in the state of Texas, including the zip codes for Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Austin.
Houston numbers 2,170 physicians across 385 sites, according to SK&A. Meanwhile, San Antonio numbers 1,607 physicians across 332 sites, Fort Worth numbers 1,029 physicians across 303 sites, and Austin numbers 974 physicians across 137 sites.
Why is this? High skin cancer rates? Dust lung? The preponderance of bull-riding injuries?
Actually, as the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reported in 2008, “In the last three years, 7,000 doctors have moved to Texas. So many doctors want to practice there that the state has had trouble keeping up with the requests for licenses.”
Due, according to this opinion piece in the WSJ, to a clampdown on damages in malpractice suits.
But these clusters are major population centers, and Texas is a big state. Despite all the doctors in places like Houston and San Antonio, The Texas Tribune reported in January that, “Dozens of rural Texas counties have no primary care doctors, no hospitals, no pharmacies. Many Texans live more than an hour from basic medical care. Some border communities have so little health care that U.S. citizens cross over into Mexico to get it.”
The article explains the discrepancy as the “payer mix” problem: “Rural Texans, who are older and poorer on average than urban Texans, are often uninsured or on Medicare. Some are undocumented, particularly along the border. They aren’t profitable patients for doctors, pharmacists or hospitals struggling to stay in business in isolated communities.”
According to this December 2009 article in The Dallas Morning News, legislators in Washington tried to make a difference by getting some relief for the rural healthcare system written into the Senate and House healthcare reform bills in the form of higher Medicare reimbursements for some rural health programs and geographic areas and added resources to recruit providers to rural areas.
With passage of healthcare reform now on the rocks, however, even that help looks uncertain. Meanwhile, nonprofit rural clinics are struggling to fill the gap.
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is also doing what it can. A year ago today the partnership announced that its “Help is Here Express” bus tour would be making stops in various cities throughout Texas in order to help uninsured and financially-struggling Texans access information on programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free.
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is a nationwide effort sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research companies providing a single point of access to more than 475 patient assistance programs that help those who are uninsured or struggling financially. Nearly 200 of the programs are provided by pharmaceutical companies.
Tags: healthcare reform, Medicare, physician targeting, SK&A, Texas
