View Policy Brief

08/2023

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 residents. The brief looks at the availability of dialysis providers in minoritized racial/ethnic areas.

Key Findings:

• Within rural ZCTAs, median distance to the nearest dialysis facility ranged from 10.5 miles for top non-Hispanic Black ZCTAs to 18.9 miles for top American Indian/Alaska Native ZCTAs. Rural ZCTAs for top non-Hispanic White residents were a median of 16.6 miles from the nearest dialysis facility.
• Within urban ZCTAs, median distance to the nearest dialysis facility was 1.4 miles for non-Hispanic Asian ZCTAs and 8.9 miles for the top American Indian/Alaska Native ZCTAs. However, among urban ZCTAs, non-Hispanic White ZCTAs had the greatest median distance of 10.1 miles.
• Across all ZCTAs, rural locations had a median distance of 14.3 miles to care versus 4.3 miles for urban ZCTAs.
• The more remote the ZCTA the greater the median distance to care. Distance increases from 16.0 miles in Level 1 Frontier & remote (FAR) Area Designations to 32.3 miles in Level 4 FAR areas versus 12.2 miles for “All other” rural ZCTAs.

Rural and Minority Health Research Center

Janice Probst, Peiyin Hung, Gabriel Benavidez, Abbey Hunter, Jan Eberth

American Indians and Alaska Natives, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Health disparities and health equity, Healthcare access, Hispanics, Home health, Long-term care, Minority health, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs)