The impact of primary care physicians on follow-up care of underserved breast cancer survivors

Purpose: to investigate the impact of the involvement of primary care physicians (pcps) on the receipt of preventive follow-up care after a breast cancer (bc) diagnosis among a low-income population. methods: multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify potential factors associated with receipt of preventive care among 579 low-income women with bc. the main outcome variables at 36 months after bc diagnosis were receipt of annual mammography,papanicolaou smear in the past 2 years,and ever had colonoscopy for those who were at least 50 years old. the main independent variable was type of provider visit in the past 12 months. results: women with a pcp visit only or both pcp and surgeon/cancer specialist visits in the past 12 months were more likely to have had annual mammography (adjusted odds ratio [aor],2.67; p = .109 and aor,2.20,p = .0008,respectively),a papanicolaou smear in the past 2 years (aor,2.90; p = .04 and aor,2.24,p = .009,respectively),and colonoscopy (aor,2.99; p = .041 and aor,2.17; p = .026,respectively) than those who only visited surgeons/cancer specialists. indeed,women who saw only a pcp for their follow-up care had the highest odds ratio of receiving each clinical care service. conclusions: the involvement of pcps in the medical care of low-income bc survivors results in better preventive follow-up care. getting pcps involved in the care of cancer survivors might be particularly pertinent for low-income populations because of lower costs and ease of access compared with cancer specialist-provided care.