REGIONAL HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES: ANALYZING THE SERVICE RADII FOR SELECT PHYSICIAN SPECIALITIES ACROSS ARIZONA

Abstract

There is a great disparity between healthcare access in urban and rural areas nationally. And Arizona is no stranger to this crisis, with 7 out of 15 counties being considered rural. One of the driving factors of this disparity is the large difference in the number of physicians practicing in rural versus urban counties. This is exemplified in this paper by analyzing the numbers of primary care physicians (internist, family medicine specialists, and pediatricians), cardiologist, and psychiatrists practicing in each Arizona county. The more physicians serving in an area, smaller their service radii. As the radius grows, accessibility declines due to factors like travel time. Given the scale of the crisis, as discussed below, there are current efforts to mitigate it. These include monetary incentives for practicing and training physicians and increased rural training programs. But these efforts need to be implemented at a larger scale if this growing crisis is going to be averted in time.