Who Should Treat Multiple Sclerosis Patients?

With the treatment of multiple sclerosis becoming increasingly complicated, the panelists discuss whether other groups of doctors can take larger roles in the process.

Andrew Goodman, MD, FAAN, says because of a number of factors specialists should carry the bulk of the load.

“The choice of therapy and the monitoring of therapy really, in my view, requires considerable expertise in MS, likely beyond the scope of a practice for people in either general practice, for that matter, even in general practice neurology, unless they have a substantial experience with MS,” says Goodman.

Patricia Coyle, MD, responds by saying that there are parts of the country where patients with multiple sclerosis may need their primary doctors to treat them with specialists not in their area.

“And I think in that sort of setting, and maybe telemedicine is a very good thing to use, you want tie-ins to MS Centers. You want tie-ins. And you can co-manage, the primary care physician can co-manage with neurology experts,” she says.