An optimization approach to evaluating accessibility to community pharmacies

ABSTRACT

Accessibility to community pharmacy is key to community health and well-being. An optimal community-pharmacy assignment (OCPA) model is developed to measure the geographical accessibility of community pharmacies in a regional population network. The model minimizes a risk-adjusted distance between census tracts and community pharmacies by optimally matching census tracts to single or multiple pharmacies. Social determinants of health (SDOH), such as vehicle ownership, access to public transit, and insurance, are used as risk factors for adjusting the geographic distance. We present a novel definition of ‘pharmacy desert’ based on the distance between census tracts and their matching community pharmacies. Extensive computational experiments are conducted based on a case study in Louisville, Kentucky. Benchmark studies with leading literature and other public health indicators validate the proposed model. Extensive sensitivity analyses suggest our model for identifying pharmacy desert is effective and can be a valuable tool for pharmacy and public health stakeholders.

KEYWORDS:

• Pharmacy desert
• geographical accessibility
• public transit
• social determinants of health (SDOH)

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C02
• C8
• I1
• C61
• O21

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Census tract is a small geographical unit, designed to be relatively homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living condition.

2. ArcGIS is a geographic information system software, developed and maintained by Esri.

3. If more than 50% people are Non-Hispanic White in a census tract.

4. If more than 50% people are Non-Hispanic Black in a census tract.

5. If none of the racial group is more than 50% of total population in a census tract.