Introduction: To evaluate rural-urban disparities in patient care experiences (PCE) among localized prostate cancer (PCa) survivors at intermediate-to-high risk of disease progression who received treatment within 12 months of diagnosis.

Methods: Data were from 2007-15 Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results linked to Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). First surveys ≥6 months from diagnosis and after receiving treatment were analyzed. We excluded persons who changed residence from PCa diagnosis to CAHPS survey. Based on rural/urban continuum codes from 2004 Area Resource File, survivors’ residence was classified as “Big Metro” (code 01), “Metro” (codes 02-03), or “Rural” (codes 04-09). PCE measures (all on scales 0-100) included getting needed care, getting care quickly, doctor communication, getting needed prescription drugs, customer service, and ratings for primary care physician, specialist, health plan, and overall care. Linear regressions estimated the association of residence with PCE measures, adjusting for survivor demographic and cancer-related clinical variables.

Results: Among 2,887 survivors treated within 12 months, 1,525, 1,074 and 288 resided in big metro, metro and rural areas respectively; 42.0% rural, 38.0% metro vs. 31.3% big metro residents received treatment within 1 month after PCa diagnosis. Compared to big metro, rural residents on average reported 3.4 (95% CI: 0.3-6.6; p=0.032) points higher score for getting needed care and metro residents on average reported  2.1 (95% CI: 0.0-4.2; p=0.045) points higher score for getting needed prescription drugs. No significant associations for other PCE measures.

Conclusions: Among localized PCa survivors at intermediate-to-high risk of disease progression who received treatment within 12 months of diagnosis, rural and metro residents were more likely to receive treatment within 1 month and reported more satisfaction with getting needed care than big metro residents.