Evaluation of accessibility and equity to hospitals by public transport: evidence from six largest cities of Ohio

Abstract

Introduction In the United States, health care has long been viewed as a ‘right,’ and residents of the state of Ohio are no exception. The Ohio Department of Health ensures that this right exists for all residents of Ohio. Socio-spatial characteristics, however, can have an impact on access to health care, particularly among vulnerable groups. This article seeks to measure the spatial accessibility to healthcare services by public transport in the six largest cities of Ohio based on population and to compare the accessibility of healthcare to vulnerable demographic groups. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the accessibility and equity of hospitals by public transit across different cities in Ohio, allowing the identification of common patterns, difficulties, and knowledge gaps. Methodology Using a two-step floating catchment area technique, the spatial accessibility to general medical and surgical hospitals through public transportation was estimated, considering both service-to-population ratios and travel time to these health services. The average accessibility of all census tracts and the average accessibility of the 20% of most susceptible census tracts were determined for each city. Using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient between accessibility and vulnerability, an indicator was then devised to evaluate vertical equity. Findings Within cities (except Cleveland), people of vulnerable census tracts have less access to hospitals via public transportation. These cities (Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, and Dayton) fail in terms of vertical equity and average accessibility. According to this, vulnerable census tracts in these cities have the lowest accessibility levels. Conclusion This study emphasizes the issues connected with the suburbanization of poverty in Ohio’s large cities and the need to provide adequate public transportation to reach hospitals on the periphery. In addition, this study shed light on the need for additional empirical research to inform the implementation of guidelines for healthcare accessibility in Ohio. Researchers, planners, and policymakers who want to make healthcare more accessible for everyone should take note of the findings in this study.

Research on the spatial allocation of national fitness resources at the street scale—taking Fuzhou city as an example

“…In the first step, the demand points within the threshold range are searched with the supply point as the centre, and the supply-demand ratio is calculated; in the second step, the supply points within the threshold range are searched with the demand point as the centre, and the supply-demand ratios of all the supply points are summed to obtain the accessibility value [ 25 ]. Currently, the two-step mobile search method is regarded by scholars as the most effective measure for calculating reachability[ 26 , 27 ]. The two-step mobile search method is used to evaluate the accessibility of national fitness resources from the perspectives of the supply of national fitness resources and the demand of the population; i.e., the more national fitness resources are available to residents, the greater the level of accessibility to their national fitness resources.…”