ArticleCommunications medicine2023
Revealed versus potential spatial accessibility of healthcare and changing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Communications medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Survey-based insights on overcoming barriers in healthcare innovation ecosystems.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Spatial accessibility to healthcare facilities and the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 infection: evidence from the reasons for geographic and racial differences in stroke (REGARDS) study, United States, March 2020 to September 2021.Preventive medicine reports · 2026Article
- Inter-facility travel time and referral for emergency obstetric care in the 15 most populated cities of Nigeria: a spatial analysis.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- A maximal-coverage approach to prioritizing newborn sickle cell screening sites in Uganda using a sickle cell-malaria co-risk surface.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Changes in driving distance to specialist physicians in the era of virtual care: a population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Analysis of travel-time to HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa reveals inequities in access to antiretrovirals.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Disparities in public transit access to healthcare in Austin, Texas.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Advancing the frontiers of geographic accessibility to healthcare services.Communications medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTimely access to healthcare is essential but measuring access is challenging. Prior research focused on analyzing potential travel times to healthcare under optimal mobility scenarios that do not incorporate direct observations of human mobility, potentially underestimating the barriers to receiving care for many populations.
methodsWe introduce an approach for measuring accessibility by utilizing travel times to healthcare facilities from aggregated and anonymized smartphone Location History data. We measure these revealed travel times to healthcare facilities in over 100 countries and juxtapose our findings with potential (optimal) travel times estimated using Google Maps directions. We then quantify changes in revealed accessibility associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
resultsWe find that revealed travel time differs substantially from potential travel time; in all but 4 countries this difference exceeds 30 minutes, and in 49 countries it exceeds 60 minutes. Substantial variation in revealed healthcare accessibility is observed and correlates with life expectancy (⍴=-0.70) and infant mortality (⍴=0.59), with this association remaining significant after adjusting for potential accessibility and wealth. The COVID-19 pandemic altered the patterns of healthcare access, especially for populations dependent on public transportation.
conclusionsOur metrics based on empirical data indicate that revealed travel times exceed potential travel times in many regions. During COVID-19, inequitable accessibility was exacerbated. In conjunction with other relevant data, these findings provide a resource to help public health policymakers identify underserved populations and promote health equity by formulating policies and directing resources towards areas and populations most in need.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.