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Case Reports
. 2019 Nov 20;101(22):e121.
doi: 10.2106/JBJS.18.01106.

Disparities in Access to Musculoskeletal Care: Narrowing the Gap: AOA Critical Issues Symposium

Dane H Salazar  1 , Christopher J Dy  2 , W Stephen Choate  3 , Howard M Place  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Disparities in Access to Musculoskeletal Care: Narrowing the Gap: AOA Critical Issues Symposium

Dane H Salazar et al. J Bone Joint Surg Am. .

Abstract

The current health-care system in the United States has numerous barriers to quality, accessible, and affordable musculoskeletal care for multiple subgroups of our population. These hurdles include complex cultural, educational, and socioeconomic factors. Tertiary referral centers provide a disproportionately large amount of the care for the uninsured and underinsured members of our society. These gaps in access to care for certain subgroups lead to inappropriate emergency room usage, lengthy hospitalizations, increased administrative load, lost productivity, and avoidable complications and/or deaths, which all represent a needless burden on our health-care system. Through advocacy, policy changes, workforce diversification, and practice changes, orthopaedic surgeons have a responsibility to seek solutions to improve access to quality and affordable musculoskeletal care for the communities that they serve.

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CT (left) and T2-weighted MRI (right) scans of the cervical spine that were made at the third hospital, 10 days after the initial presentation.
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Anteroposterior (left) and lateral (right) radiographs of the left hip demonstrating an acute displaced proximal femoral fracture.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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