Urban

According to 2006 statistics, the ratio of physicians per capita in urban counties is 136% higher than in rural counties and the ratio of dentists per capita is 150% higher. Despite these ratios, there are significant health workforce challenges facing urban areas. Access Denied: A Look at America’s Medically Disenfranchised asserts that “distance is a known barrier to accessing health care … especially in urban settings where the time of travel may make geographically short distances difficult.” The report also illustrates that access to health care is difficult for those living below the federal poverty line, regardless of their proximity to an urban area. According to Access Denied, “in 2005, 70.8% of Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients were at or below the Federal Poverty level,” and “the number of low income health center patients grew almost six times the number of low income Americans between 2000 and 2005.” Physician vacancy rates at FQHCs in urban areas generally parallels vacancies in rural areas, and as an added detriment, half of the approximately 36.5 million people living below the poverty line in 2006 lived in cities, resulting in an urban poverty level of 16%. Even an urban area flush with health professionals is of little benefit to city residents if they are unable to gain access to them.

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• Access Denied: A Look at America's Medically Disenfranchised, 2007
• Public Health Workforce Shortage: Left Unchecked, Will We Be Protected?, 9/2006

Page last updated February 5, 2009