Medscape November 6, 2024
Edited by Mia Sims

TOPLINE:

Patient travel patterns often differ from geographic market boundaries, particularly for specialty care. The researchers sought to assess how well thresholds such as hospital service area (HSA) or zipcode capture the true travel time to access to care for a majority of patients. Primary care service area (PCSA) and HSA were not accurate definitions of a patient population.

METHODOLOGY:

  • Researchers used data of healthcare utilization from Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), from 2018 to 2021.
  • A total of 825,292 office visits, 23,334 emergency department visits, and 10,552 inpatient stays were analyzed.
  • Researchers used an online geographic information system to geocode patient and provider addresses. Travel times were calculated using a routing engine and OpenStreetMap data.
  • They also determined...

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