Cross-border utilization of cancer care by patients in the US and Mexico – a survey of Mexican oncologists

Globalization and Health

Research

Enrique Soto-Perez-de-Celis¹  Haydeé Verduzco-Aguirre²  Michael LaPelusa³  Fernando Diaz⁴  Fernando Aldaco⁵ 

[1] Department of Geriatrics, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Vasco de Quiroga 15, 14080, Tlalpan, Mexico City, Mexico;Department of Hemato-Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico;Department of Internal Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA;Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States;Servicio de Oncología Medica, Centro Médico Nacional 20 de Noviembre, Mexico City, Mexico;

关键词: Emigration and immigration;    Cancer;    Border crossings;    Mexico;    Delivery of Healthcare;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12992-023-00983-0

 received in 2023-05-21, accepted in 2023-10-24,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe 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.ResultsThe 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).ConclusionsMost 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.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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Fig. 1