TY - JOUR T1 - The Impact of Primary Care Physicians on Follow-up Care of Underserved Breast Cancer Survivors JF - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine JO - J Am Board Fam Med SP - 628 LP - 636 DO - 10.3122/jabfm.2013.06.120345 VL - 26 IS - 6 AU - Rose C. Maly AU - Yihang Liu AU - Allison L. Diamant AU - Amardeep Thind Y1 - 2013/11/01 UR - http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/6/628.abstract N2 - 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. ER -