Exploring transportation networks relationship to healthcare access and as affected by urban sprawl

Abstract Transportation networks and related urban form settlements are frequently recognized as barriers to primary care access. This study explores the role of urban form in constraining accessibility to healthcare as affected by transportation network characteristics. The aim of the study is to measure the spatial accessibility to primary health care providers while controlling for the impact of built environment factors. Orlando Metropolitan statistical area, in Florida, USA, is used as a case study. This study develops a multi-dimensional approach to measure urban form components – density, mixed use, street network and proximity - and spatial measures of accessibility to primary care providers by employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression is used to assess the impact of urban form characteristics to primary health care providers’ accessibility, and to verify previous research that concludes that places with more sprawl have less accessibility to health care facilities. Considering both nurse practitioners (NPs) and primary care physicians (PCPs) as primary health care providers, about 85.67% of total population of Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has access to the nearest provider in less than 5 minute drive, which represents remarkable levels of accessibility. In the regression results, the density component shows a positive and proximity a negative and significant correlation to all primary care accessibility measures; whereas the mixed-use components show both positive and negative correlation. The findings from this study show that a more nuanced relationships exists between urban form components and accessibility of primary health care.