In a new study, researchers found that the distribution of infectious disease (ID) physicians in the United States is geographically skewed.
About 90% of U.S. counties having below-average ID physician density or no ID physicians at all.
The research was conducted by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The team examined the distribution of ID specialists compared to the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States.
The 2017 Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data were used to identify county-level ID physician densities (the number of ID physicians per 100,000 persons).
The researchers found that in 2017, the national average density was 1.76 ID physicians per 100,000 persons, but the distribution was geographically skewed.
Of the 3,142 U.S. counties, 10.5% had above-average ID physician densities, 9.9% had below-average ID physician densities, and 79.5% of counties did not have a single ID physician.
Among the 785 counties with the highest quartile of COVID-19 disease burden, 18.7% had above-average ID physician densities, 14.9% had below-average ID physician densities, and 66.4% had no ID physician coverage.
Among counties with the lowest COVID-19 burden, nearly 95 percent did not have a single ID physician.
The team says the association between ID physician care and COVID-19 clinical outcomes needs more research.
However, for many other infectious diseases, a robust evidence base supports the association between ID physician intervention and improved outcomes.
One author of the study is Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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