title: Using a Mystery-Caller Approach to Examine Access to Prostate Cancer Care in Philadelphia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prior work suggests that access to health care may influence the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Mystery-caller methods have been used previously to measure access to care for health services such as primary care, where patients' self-initiate requests for care. We used a mystery-caller survey for specialized prostate cancer care to assess dimensions of access to prostate cancer care.
  
  
  METHODS
  We created an inventory of urology and radiation oncology practices in southeastern Pennsylvania. Using a 'mystery caller' approach, a research assistant posing as a medical office scheduler in a primary care office, attempted to make a new patient appointment on behalf of a referred patient. Linear regression was used to determine the association between time to next available appointment with practice and census tract characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We successfully obtained information on new patient appointments from 198 practices out of the 223 in the region (88.8%). Radiation oncology practices were more likely to accept Medicaid compared to urology practices (91.3% vs 36.4%) and had shorter mean wait times for new patient appointments (9.0 vs 12.8 days). We did not observe significant differences in wait times according to census tract characteristics including neighborhood socioeconomic status and the proportion of male African American residents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mystery-caller methods that reflect real-world referral processes from primary care offices can be used to measure access to specialized cancer care. We observed significant differences in wait times and insurance acceptance between radiation oncology and urology practices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Craig Evan
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Pollack
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michelle E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Branas
authors.affiliation: Office of Population Health Management, Northwell Health/Hofstra Medical School, Great Neck, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Karin V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Justin E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bekelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wentz
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stillson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Archana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Enny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oyeniran
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.|Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grande
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid; D015143:Philadelphia; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D014481:United States