Barriers to healthcare as reported by rural and urban interprofessional providers.
The research literature is replete with reports of barriers to care perceived by rural patients seeking healthcare. Less often reported are barriers perceived by the rural healthcare providers themselves. The current study is an extensive survey of over 1,500 healthcare providers randomly selected from two US states with large rural populations, Alaska and New Mexico. Barriers consistently identified across rural and urban regions by all healthcare professionals were Patient Complexity, Resource Limitations, Service Access, Training Constraints, and Patient Avoidance of Care. Findings confirmed that rural areas, however, struggle more with healthcare barriers than urban and small urban areas, especially as related to Resource Limitations, Confidentiality Limitations, Overlapping Roles, Provider Travel, Service Access, and Training Constraints. Almost consistently, the smaller a provider's practice community, the greater the reports of barriers, with the most severe barriers reported in small rural communities.
Brems
Christiane
C
University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA. cbrems@uaa.alaska.edu
Johnson
Mark E
ME
Warner
Teddy D
TD
Roberts
Laura Weiss
LW
D000413:Alaska; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006282:Health Personnel; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009516:New Mexico; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*