Factors Associated with Neurologists’ Provision of MS Patient Care

Table 4

Negative binomial regression predicting MS patients seen per week among Non-MS subspecialists/general neurologists.

	Incidence rate ratio	95% confidence interval	𝑃 value
Subspecialty status (nonsubspecialist reference)
Subspecialist	0.89	0.75–1.05	0.181
Practice arrangement (solo practice reference)
Neurology group	1.18	0.96–1.46	0.118
Multispecialty group	1.09	0.82–1.45	0.556
University based group	0.59	0.41–0.85	0.005
Other^‡	0.85	0.65–1.13	0.261
Unknown	0.76	0.57–1.01	0.055
Age (44 years or less reference)
45 to 53 years	1.05	0.83–1.32	0.693
54 to 59 years	1.14	0.90–1.45	0.268
60 years or more	0.94	0.74–1.20	0.613
Sex (male reference)
Female	0.81	0.66–0.99	0.039
Insufficient reimbursement for time involved (no reference)
Yes	0.92	0.78–1.09	0.341
Lack of sufficient knowledge to feel comfortable caring for this patient population (no reference)
Yes	0.51	0.29–0.92	0.025
Lack of sufficient knowledge regarding newer disease-modifying drugs (no reference)
Yes	0.80	0.58–1.09	0.155
Seldom encounter MS patients (no reference)
Yes	0.42	0.28–0.62	0.000
Ability to improve patient outcomes and quality of life (no reference)
Yes	1.44	1.07–1.92	0.015
Dynamic area with evolving treatment options (no reference)
Yes	1.27	1.04–1.54	0.017
Care involving a multidisciplinary approach (no reference)
Yes	1.03	0.86–1.23	0.744
Research opportunities (no reference)
Yes	1.18	0.95–1.47	0.125
Enjoy interacting with MS patients (no reference)
Yes	1.41	1.18–1.67	0.000
Area in which you are practicing (within a major city reference)
Suburban or moderate-sized city	1.18	0.98–1.41	0.076
Rural area or small city	1.30	1.02–1.65	0.031

‡The “other” category includes neurologists who responded “staff-model HMO,” “government hospital or clinic,” or “other public or private hospital or clinic setting” to question “Indicate in which practice arrangement you spend the majority of your clinical time.”