Spatial accessibility of primary care: concepts, methods and challenges

Primary care is recognized as the most important form of healthcare for maintaining population health because it is relatively inexpensive, can be more easily delivered than specialty and inpatient care, and if properly distributed it is most effective in preventing disease progression on a large scale. Recent advances in the field of health geography have greatly improved our understanding of the role played by geographic distribution of health services in population health maintenance. However, most of this knowledge has accrued for hospital and specialty services and services in rural areas. Much less is known about the effect of distance to and supply of primary care on primary care utilization,…

• OS
  Ohio State University
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NC
  National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities
• NI
  National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities