Abstract

There is a great disparity between healthcare access in urban and rural areas nationally. Arizona is no stranger to this crisis, with 7 out of 15 counties 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. To quantify the crisis, this paper analyzes the numbers of primary care physicians (internists, family medicine specialists, and pediatricians), cardiologists, and psychiatrists practicing in each Arizona county. The more physicians serving in an area, the smaller their service radii. As the radius grows, accessibility declines due to factors like travel time. Given the scale of the crisis, 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 alleviated for future generations.

How to Cite:

Sodhi, N., (2022) “Regional Healthcare Disparities: Analyzing the Service Radii for Select Physician Specialities across Arizona”, Arizona Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 8, 47-59.