Mapping Rural and Urban Veterans' Spatial Access to Primary Care Following the MISSION Act.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The 2018 MISSION Act sought to improve Veterans' access to primary care by allowing Veterans living more than 30 min from VA care to utilize non-VA clinics. The impact of this legislation may vary for rural compared to urban Veterans.

Objective

Assess the extent to which the 2018 MISSION Act facilitates spatial access to primary care for Veterans living in rural versus urban Oregon.

Design

We identified locations of all VA and non-VA primary care clinics in Oregon then calculated 30-min drive-time catchment areas from census tract centroids to the nearest clinics. We compared measures of spatial access to primary care for Veterans in rural, micropolitan, and urban areas.

Participants

American Community Survey data representing Oregon adults.

Main

SUBMITTER: Sullivan E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9485404 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature