Barriers to Lyme disease Treatment: What the data is showing

0.25 CME. In the first study of its kind, two Lyme disease experts gathered data on a question frequently asked by tick-borne disease patients: Why is it so hard to find a Lyme-treating physician, when the need is so great? There are 476,000 new Lyme cases annually, reported from all 50 states, per the CDC. This course answers these questions based on data from a survey of 155 clinicians from 30 states who treat Lyme patients. The study’s goal was to identify the problems that clinicians face when treating these patients, a first step to overcoming these obstacles.

Instructor

Elizabeth L. Maloney, MD
Education Co-director, VectorWise CME

Description

In the first study of its kind, two Lyme disease experts gathered data on a question frequently asked by tick-borne disease patients: Why is it so hard to find a Lyme-treating physician, when the need is so great? There are 476,000 new Lyme cases annually, reported from all 50 states, per the CDC. This course answers these questions based on data from a survey of 155 clinicians from 30 states who treat Lyme patients. The study’s goal was to identify the problems that clinicians face when treating these patients, a first step to overcoming these obstacles.

Learning objectives

Understand the inadequacies of current treatment related to persistent symptoms in 44% of the patients presenting with erythema migrans rash
List three barriers to treatment physicians face when working to help Lyme patients
List three reasons physicians report as a cause of diagnostic delays in patients with Lyme disease

Accreditation Statement

This session, Barriers to Lyme disease Treatment: What the data is showing,, is approved for 0.25 enduring AAFP Prescribed credits.

The AAFP has reviewed One Health Medical Education for a Changing Climate, and deemed it acceptable for AAFP credit. Term of approval is from 01/01/2025 to 12/31/2025. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™ toward the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award. When applying for the AMA PRA, Prescribed credit earned must be reported as Prescribed, not as Category 1.

Evidence-based bibliography for further study

Johnson LB, Maloney EL. Access to Care in Lyme Disease: Clinician Barriers to Providing Care. Healthcare. 2022; 10(10):1882. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10101882
Aucott JN, Yang T, Yoon I, Powell D, Geller SA, Rebman AW. Risk of post-treatment Lyme disease in patients with ideally-treated early Lyme disease: A prospective cohort study. Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Mar;116:230-237. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.01.033. Epub 2022 Jan 21. PMID: 35066160.

About the Instructor

Elizabeth L. Maloney, MD

Education Co-Director, VectorWise CME; Partnership for Tick-borne Diseases Education

Dr. Maloney is a Minnesota family physician whose current focus is on tick-borne diseases education and policy. She began providing comprehensive, evidence-based, continuing medical education courses for physicians in 2007 and subsequently founded Partnership for Tick-borne Diseases Education, a non-profit providing evidence-based continuing medical education programming and materials on tick borne diseases. She has authored several peer-reviewed papers and treatment guidelines on Lyme disease and is currently a member of the federally mandated Tick-Borne Diseases Working Group (TBDWG). She is currently the Education Co-director at VectorWise CME.