Trends in Access to Health Care among Rural Residents: A National Study
This study used national data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to ascertain the extent to which individual rural residents lack adequate health care access. BRFSS is a nationally representative study of the U.S. non-institutionalized adult population and collects health-related data annually on a range of measures, including access to care. It is a state-based random-digit telephone survey including over 260,000 respondents in 2003. This study examined access to care by type of geographic location and by key risk factors for inadequate access to health care. Degrees of rurality were measured using county-level Urban Influence Codes. Specifically, the project determined whether the prevalence of and recent trends in having a personal doctor or health care provider varies for rural versus urban respondents; whether the reported prevalence of and trends in adults being unable to see a doctor in the prior 12 months because of cost varies for rural versus urban respondents; whether the prevalence of not having a personal doctor or health care provider and being unable to see a doctor in the past 12 months because of cost increases as the degree of rural isolation increases; and whether rural respondents with special health care needs have a greater prevalence of being unable to see a doctor in the past 12 months because of cost than their lower risk counterparts.
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