The Proximity of Rural African American and Hispanic/Latino Communities to Physicians and Hospital Services

Date
06/2001
Description

Assesses how local physician concentrations and distances to hospitals differ for rural communities of varying African American and Hispanic/Latino compositions. Uses data at the town-area level for nine southern and six western states to compare town-areas with low, medium, and high proportions of African Americans and Hispanics on their local physician-to-population ratios and distances to nearest hospital offering each of four levels of services. Among the findings are that rural Hispanics, but not African Americans, face longer travel distances to physicians, and both groups face longer distances to some types of hospital services than do non-minority rural individuals.

Center
North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
Authors
Donald Pathman, Thomas Konrad, Robert Schwartz