Disparities in multi-modal spatial access to primary and specialty care in U.S. neighborhoods: A cross-sectional and temporal analysis of health services.

ABSTRACT: Spatial access to care describes the ability of populations to travel to healthcare providers. Existing spatial access to care studies frequently utilize metrics constructed using car-specific travel to providers, potentially underestimating access in populations using other travel modalities (i.e., walking/transit). We present a novel multi-travel modality spatial access to care composite measure, a corresponding temporally representative open-source data resource, and a stratified analysis of neighborhood rural/urban and socioeconomic disparities. We utilized quarterly 2016-2020 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Doctors and Clinicians National Downloadable Files to compute temporally representative multi-modal spatial accessibility to 56 healthcare provider classifications in U.

SUBMITTER: Buchalter RB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12443297 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature