Rural patients more likely than city dwellers to have common surgeries

The Associated Press: Study Challenges Rural Lack of Access to Surgery
A surprising study of nearly 46 million Medicare patients says older residents in rural areas are more likely to have any of nine common surgeries than people in cities. Back surgery, hip and knee replacements, and prostate removal were among the operations performed more often in rural Medicare patients, the study found. Emergency surgeries and elective operations alike were more common among rural residents. The results seem to challenge the idea that city dwellers have better access to medical care, but experts say the research raises more questions than it answers (5/16).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.