Changes in emergency department access between 2001 and 2005 among general and vulnerable populations

Y.-C. Shen and R.Y. Hsia

American Journal of Public Health, 2010, vol. 100, issue 8, 1462-1469

Abstract: Objectives. We analyzed how ease of geographic access to emergency departments (EDs), defined as driving time to the closest ED, changed between 2001 and 2005, and whether access deterioration was more likely to occur in vulnerable communities. Methods. We classified communities on the basis of American Hospital Association and Census data into 3 categories according to driving time to the nearest ED: no increase, less than a 10-minute increase, and a 10-minuteormore increase. We estimated a multinomial logit model to examine the relative risk ratio (RRR) of various community characteristics. Results. More than 95% of communities experienced no ED access deterioration. However, 11.4 million people experienced increased driving time to their nearest ED. Low-income communities had a higher risk of facing deteriorating access compared with high-income communities (urban; RRR=3.67; P

Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2009.175828_6

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.175828

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