RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The US-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with millions of people crossing it daily. However, little is known about cross-border utilization of cancer care, or about the reasons driving it. We designed a cross sectional online survey to understand the type of care patients with cancer who live in the US and Mexico seek outside their home country, the reasons why patients traveled across the border to receive care, and the barriers faced when seeking cross-border care. RESULTS: The online survey was sent to the 248 cancer care providers working in the six Mexican border states who were registered members of the Mexican Society of Oncology. Responses were collected between September-November 2022. Sixty-six providers (response rate 26%) completed the survey. Fifty-nine (89%) reported interacting with US-based patients traveling to Mexico to receive various treatment modalities, with curative surgery (n = 38) and adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 31) being the most common. Forty-nine (74%) reported interacting with Mexico-based patients traveling to the US to receive various treatment modalities, with immunotherapy (n = 29) and curative surgery (n = 27) being the most common. The most frequently reported reason US-based patients sought care in Mexico was inadequate health insurance (n = 45). The most frequently reported reason Mexico-based patients sought care in the US was patients' perception of superior healthcare (n = 38). CONCLUSIONS: Most Mexican oncologists working along the Mexico-US border have interacted with patients seeking or receiving binational cancer care. The type of care sought, as well as the reasons for seeking it, differ between US and Mexico-based patients. These patterns of cross-border healthcare utilization highlight unmet needs for patients with cancer in both countries and call for policy changes to improve outcomes in border regions.
Assuntos
Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Neoplasias , Humanos , Estados Unidos , México , Estudos Transversais , Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde , Inquéritos e Questionários , Neoplasias/terapiaRESUMO
To quantify the number of Border Crossers seen at our hospitals, broken down by diagnoses and age. We used our electronic medical record to identify the number of patients in custody of the United States Border Patrol who were seen at Banner-University: South and University Campuses during the calendar year 2016. 734 patients were identified, and the electronic medical record was used to identify the primary diagnosis and age for each one. We then manually categorized them into groups of common diagnoses. We also compared the number of border crosser emergency department (ED) visits to overall ED visits. Of 734 patients, 77% were male, 60% were between 16 and 40 years of age, and 18% were under age 18 years. They made up 1.3% of ED visits to South Campus, but less than 0.1% to University Campus. The top categories were musculoskeletal trauma (n = 235, 32%), and dehydration and rhabdomyolysis (n = 95, 13%). The age range of border crossers brought to our EDs varies widely, as do their primary diagnoses, although trends can be seen. They make up a 1.3% of overall emergency department visits at South Campus hospital.