View Policy Brief

09/2022

This brief is one of a series of findings briefs documenting disparities in geographic access to health services for ZIP code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) containing a high proportion of minoritized racial/ethnic group (MRG) residents. This report looks at the availability of nursing homes at the ZCTA level.

Key Findings:

• Top MRG ZCTAs having the greatest median distance to a nursing home were American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) (13.2 miles), Hispanic (10.6 miles), and multiple MRGs (11.3 miles). Rural ZCTAs were a median of 8.2 miles from the nearest nursing home compared to 2.9 miles for urban ZCTAs.
• Overall, only 4.6% of rural ZCTAs lacked access to a nursing home within 30 miles. However, when looking at the top MRG ZCTAs, the percentage of rural ZCTAs lacking access to a nursing home within 30 miles was 14.7% for more than one MRG population ZCTAs, 13.6% for top AI/AN ZCTAs, and 11.1% for top Hispanic ZCTAs.

Rural and Minority Health Research Center

Otis Owens, Gabriel Benavidez, Melinda Merrell, Elizabeth Crouch, Jan Eberth, Janice Probst

American Indians and Alaska Natives, Health disparities and health equity, Healthcare access, Hispanics, Long-term care, Minority health