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Measures of Spatial Accessibility to Health Care in a GIS Environment: Synthesis and a Case Study in the Chicago Region

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  • Wei Luo
  • Fahui Wang

Abstract

This article synthesizes two GIS-based accessibility measures into one framework, and applies the methods to examining spatial accessibility to primary health care in the Chicago ten-county region. The floating catchment area (FCA) method defines the service area of physicians by a threshold travel time while accounting for the availability of physicians by their surrounded demands. The gravity-based method considers a nearby physician more accessible than a remote one and discounts a physician's availability by a gravity-based potential. The former is a special case of the latter. Based on the 2000 Census and primary care physician data, this research assesses the variation of spatial accessibility to primary care in the Chicago region, and analyzes the sensitivity of results by experimenting with ranges of threshold travel times in the FCA method and travel friction coefficients in the gravity model. The methods may be used to help the US Department of Health and Human Services and state health departments improve designation of Health Professional Shortage Areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Luo & Fahui Wang, 2003. "Measures of Spatial Accessibility to Health Care in a GIS Environment: Synthesis and a Case Study in the Chicago Region," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 30(6), pages 865-884, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:30:y:2003:i:6:p:865-884
    DOI: 10.1068/b29120
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    1. Joseph, Alun E. & Bantock, Peter R., 1982. "Measuring potential physical accessibility to general practitioners in rural areas: A method and case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 85-90, January.
    2. Lovett, Andrew & Haynes, Robin & Sünnenberg, Gisela & Gale, Susan, 2002. "Car travel time and accessibility by bus to general practitioner services: a study using patient registers and GIS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 97-111, July.
    3. Khan, Abdullah A., 1992. "An integrated approach to measuring potential spatial access to health care services," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 275-287, October.
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    8. Gerardo Carpentieri & Carmen Guida & Houshmand E. Masoumi, 2020. "Multimodal Accessibility to Primary Health Services for the Elderly: A Case Study of Naples, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, January.
    9. Yu, Dongwei & Tan, Hongwei & Ruan, Yingjun, 2012. "An improved two-step floating catchment area method for supporting district building energy planning: A case study of Yongding County city, China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 156-163.
    10. Wang, Jianying & Dong, Lei & Cheng, Ximeng & Yang, Weijun & Liu, Yu, 2019. "An extended exploration and preferential return model for human mobility simulation at individual and collective levels," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 534(C).
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    12. Jinguang Zhang & Yingyi Cheng & Wei Wei & Bing Zhao, 2019. "Evaluating Spatial Disparity of Access to Public Parks in Gated and Open Communities with an Improved G2SFCA Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-19, October.

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