ArticleBMC health services research2011
Optimizing the two-step floating catchment area method for measuring spatial accessibility to medical clinics in Montreal.
Article in BMC health services research, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
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45 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Evidence-Based Planning of High-Complexity Healthcare Networks at National Level: Integrating Mortality Records, Accessibility Metrics, and Facility Location Optimization Models.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2026Article
- A generalized two-step floating building catchment area model for measuring EMS accessibility with in-building patient access.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Community health volunteers improve access to malaria case management in Siaya County, Kenya.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Optimizing mobile mammography deployment in Oklahoma 2024: a two-step floating catchment area approach.Geospatial health · 2026Article
- Spatial equity-oriented accessibility assessment and optimal allocation of older adult care facilities in Beijing's central urban area.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- From growth to well-being: pathways and social security effects of coordinating medical resources and population in the Yangtze River Delta region.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Accessibility of Ontario pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccination by rurality, community material deprivation, and ethnic concentration: a repeated cross-sectional geospatial analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A French classification to describe medical deserts: a multi-professional approach based on the first contact with the healthcare system.International journal of health geographics · 2024Article
- Evaluation of accessibility and equity to hospitals by public transport: evidence from six largest cities of Ohio.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Quantitative Evaluation of Spatial Accessibility of Various Urban Medical Services Based on Big Data of Outpatient Appointments.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Equity of Elderly Care Facility Allocation in a Multi-Ethnic City under the Aging Background.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Spatial Accessibility Analysis of Medical Facilities Based on Public Transportation Networks.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Examining the impact of COVID-19 vaccination rates on differential access to critical care.Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England) · 2022Article
- Rural-Urban Disparities in Realized Spatial Access to General Practitioners, Orthopedic Surgeons, and Physiotherapists among People with Osteoarthritis in Alberta, Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Measuring equality in access to urban parks: A big data analysis from Chengdu.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Assessing consistency among indices to measure socioeconomic barriers to health care access.Health services & outcomes research methodology · 2022Article
- An External Patient Healthcare Index (EPHI) for Simulating Spatial Tendencies in Healthcare Seeking Behavior.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Proximity of Water Wells to Public Water Testing Facilities in Alberta Using Drive Times.Environmental health insights · 2022Article
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Abstract
backgroundReducing spatial access disparities to healthcare services is a growing priority for healthcare planners especially among developed countries with aging populations. There is thus a pressing need to determine which populations do not enjoy access to healthcare, yet efforts to quantify such disparities in spatial accessibility have been hampered by a lack of satisfactory measurements and methods. This study compares an optimised and the conventional version of the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to assess spatial accessibility to medical clinics in Montreal.
methodsWe first computed catchments around existing medical clinics of Montreal Island based on the shortest network distance. Population nested in dissemination areas were used to determine potential users of a given medical clinic. To optimize the method, medical clinics (supply) were weighted by the number of physicians working in each clinic, while the previous year's medical clinic users were computed by ten years age group was used as weighting coefficient for potential users of each medical clinic (demand).
resultsThe spatial accessibility score (SA) increased considerably with the optimisation method. Within a distance of 1 Km, for instance, the maximum clinic accessible for 1,000 persons is 2.4 when the conventional method is used, compared with 27.7 for the optimized method. The t-test indicates a significant difference between the conventional and the optimized 2SFCA methods. Also, results of the differences between the two methods reveal a clustering of residuals when distance increases. In other words, a low threshold would be associated with a lack of precision.
conclusionResults of this study suggest that a greater effort must be made ameliorate spatial accessibility to medical clinics in Montreal. To ensure that health resources are allocated in the interest of the population, health planners and the government should consider a strategy in the sitting of future clinics which would provide spatial access to the greatest number of people.
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