Medical desert

Short description: Area that has limited access to healthcare

Medical desert is a term used to describe regions whose population has inadequate access to healthcare.[1] The term can be applied whether the lack of healthcare is general or in a specific field, such as dental or pharmaceutical.[2] It is primarily used to describe rural areas although it is sometimes applied to urban areas as well.[2] The term is inspired by the analogous concept of a food desert.[1]

## United States

An estimated 30 million Americans, many in rural regions of the country, live at least 60 minutes drive from a hospital with trauma care services.[3] Limited access to emergency room services, as well as medical specialists, leads to increases in mortality rates and long-term health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes.[4][5] Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients are less likely than others to live within an hour's drive of a hospital emergency room.[3]

Since 1975, over 1,000 hospitals, many in rural regions, have closed their doors because they are unable to bear the cost of care of uninsured patients.[6] That has required some patients in every state to drive at least an hour to a hospital emergency room. The problem poses an even greater danger during the COVID-19 pandemic, when patients in respiratory distress urgently need oxygen[7] and can ill afford an hour-long ambulance ride to reach a hospital. In addition to the immediate financial problems facing rural healthcare providers, inequities in rural healthcare are further aggravated by the disproportionately low number of newly-graduated doctors applying for positions in rural areas.

Although concentrated in rural regions, health care deserts also exist in urban and suburban areas, particularly in Black-majority census tracts in Chicago , Los Angeles , and New York City .[8] Medical literature addressing health disparities in urban centers has applied the term medical desert to areas that are more than five miles from the nearest acute care facility.[8] Racial demographic disparities in healthcare access are also present in rural areas, particularly with Native Americans living in rural areas receiving inadequate medical care.[9][10]

Pharmacy deserts have developed in some urban areas,[11][12] a situation that has increased the challenge of distributing and administering vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.[13][14][15]

## See also

* Banking desert
* Environmental racism
* Fenceline community
* Food desert
* Ghetto tax
* Transit desert
* Underfunded public school system

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chevillard, Guillaume; Lucas-Gabrielli, Véronique; Mousquès, Julien (2018). Dill, Lan. ed. "Medical deserts in France: Current state of research and future trends". L'Espace Géographique 47: 362–380. doi:10.3917/eg.474.0362. https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_EG_474_0362--medical-deserts-in-france-current-state.htm.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Garcia, Estevan (2018-09-01). "THE URBAN FOOD DESERT AS A MODEL FOR THE URBAN HEALTH CARE DESERT: FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS". Dissertations and Theses. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/sph_etds/25.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Carr, Brendan; Bowman, Ariel; Wolff, Catherine; Mullen, Michael T.; Holena, Daniel; Branas, Charles C.; Wiebe, Douglas (2017). "Disparities in Access to Trauma Care in the United States: A Population-Based Analysis". Injury 48 (2): 332–338. doi:10.1016/j.injury.2017.01.008. ISSN 0020-1383. PMID 28069138.
4. ↑ "Poor Access to a Trauma Center Linked to Higher Prehospital Death Rates in More Than Half of U.S. States" (in en). https://www.facs.org/media/press-releases/2018/hashmihaider102218.
5. ↑ "About Rural Health Care - NRHA". https://www.ruralhealthweb.org/about-nrha/about-rural-health-care.
6. ↑ "Hospital Closings Likely to Increase" (in en). 2017-10-16. https://www.hrsa.gov/enews/past-issues/2017/october-19/hospitals-closing-increase.html.
7. ↑ "Neighborhoods With 'Medical Deserts' Have Emergency Needs During COVID Pandemic". http://baltimoretimes-online.com/news/2020/mar/23/neighborhoods-medical-deserts/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tung, Elizabeth L.; Hampton, David A.; Kolak, Marynia; Rogers, Selwyn O.; Yang, Joyce P.; Peek, Monica E. (2019-03-01). "Race/Ethnicity and Geographic Access to Urban Trauma Care" (in en). JAMA Network Open 2 (3): e190138. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.0138. PMID 30848804.
9. ↑ Friedman, Misha (13 April 2016). "For Native Americans, Health Care Is A Long, Hard Road Away" (in en). https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/13/473848341/health-care-s-hard-realities-on-the-reservation-a-photo-essay.
10. ↑ "Why Care at Native American Hospitals Is Often Substandard" (in en-US). The New York Times. Associated Press. 2016-10-08. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/us/why-care-at-native-american-hospitals-is-often-substandard.html.
11. ↑ Olumhense, Ese; Husain, Nausheen (2018-01-22). "'Pharmacy deserts' a growing health concern in Chicago, experts, residents say". https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-pharmacy-deserts-chicago-20180108-story.html.
12. ↑ Kingson, Jennifer A. (2021-01-07). ""Pharmacy deserts" are becoming a bigger problem in low-income neighborhoods" (in en). https://www.axios.com/pharmacy-deserts-cities-prescriptions-45c32271-37ac-4105-b1bb-e2d2436b88c1.html.
13. ↑ Marsh, Tori (2021-01-14). "'Vaccine Deserts' Threaten to Prolong COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout - GoodRx" (in en). https://www.goodrx.com/blog/covid-19-vaccine-deserts-threaten-rollout/.
14. ↑ Adams, Biba (2020-12-25). "Pharmacy deserts expose racial and socioeconomic gap in vaccine access" (in en-US). https://thegrio.com/2020/12/25/coronavirus-vaccine-pharmacy-distribution/.
15. ↑ Terry Ellis, Nicquel; Meyersohn, Nathaniel; Jimenez, Omar (2020-12-24). "Their communities are deserted by pharmacies. Advocates fear this will lead to inequitable vaccine access". https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/pharmacy-deserts-covid-19-vaccine/index.html.

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