• Mercedes M Morales-Alemán, Qinglin Hu, Gwendolyn Ferreti, and Lea G Yerby.
• From the Department of Community Medicine and Population Health and The Institute of Data and Analytics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; and the Department of Peace and Social Justice Studies, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
• South. Med. J. 2022 Dec 1; 115 (12): 864869864-869.

ObjectivesAlabama's Latino/a/x population grew 278% from 2000 to 2018. Tuscaloosa County, located in the largely rural region of western Alabama, also experienced a significant influx of Latino/as/x during this time frame. Geographic healthcare access (GHA) to primary care and hospitals is crucial for immigrant Latino/as/x to care for their health, but few studies have characterized it. The goals of this article were to describe the availability (defined as number of provider locations) and accessibility (defined as travel impedance between potential patients and provider locations) of primary healthcare services and to discuss potential strategies to address these healthcare access challenges.MethodsWe drew data from the US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Blue Cross Blue Shield national doctor and hospital finder database, the Alabama Department of Public Health, and Tuscaloosa Transit Authority. We used geographic data, geographic information systems, and spatial analyses to characterize the availability and accessibility of primary care services and hospitals for Latinos/as/x in Tuscaloosa County using ESRI, ArcGIS 10.6.1. We showed the distribution of Latinos/as/x by census tract with choropleth mapping and mapped primary healthcare providers alongside public transit routes and hospital driving times to support our findings.ResultsThis work demonstrated that Latinos/as/x in Tuscaloosa County were concentrated in more rural areas surrounding the county's city center, presenting significant barriers to GHA. These areas had fewer primary care providers and limited public transit. Many Latinos/as/x in this county had to travel ≥45 minutes to a hospital.ConclusionsOutreach and technology-based approaches, including home visit programs, mobile health units, and telemedicine, may be particularly important in bridging the GHA gaps for this and other largely rural populations the southeastern United States. Some of this potential was unlocked during the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. These gains should be leveraged toward sustainable healthcare access initiatives for rural Latino/a/x populations.

32 keywords...

hide…