(Applied) geography, policy, & time: whither health and medical geography?

ABSTRACT

In this provocation, we discuss the potential for health/medical geography to contribute to a policy-relevant geographical research agenda that remains attentive to social theory debates. We illustrate the importance of time as a social determinant of health, through the case study of racial/ethnic inequities in spatial access to acute hospitals in the U.S. South region amid rural hospital closures, conversions, and mergers, which have decreased the supply of hospitals since 1990. In sum, racial disparities in spatial access were most pronounced for travel distances/times to the nearest alternative hospital, underscoring the importance of both temporal and spatial equity.

KEYWORDS:

• Relevance
• policy research
• healthcare access
• hospital closures

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Sara L. McLafferty for her invaluable contributions in the earlier portion of the quantitative analysis.

Disclosure statement

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

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests that could potentially influence this research.

Notes

1 Notably, the U.S. Social Security Administration has undergone budget cuts totaling 17% since 2010, resulting in a 13% reduction in staff, simultaneous to a 22% increase in the number of beneficiaries has grown by 22% (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (accessed 9 June 2022))

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Cancer Institute (grant number 3R01CA240092-03S1).

Notes on contributors

Arrianna Marie Planey

Dr. Arrianna Marie Planey is a health/medical geographer and Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sandy Wong

Dr. Sandy Wong is a health geographer and Assistant Professor of Geography at Florida State University.

Donald A. Planey

Dr. Donald A. Planey is an economic geographer and Teaching Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Michelle J. Ko

Dr. Michelle J. Ko is a health services researcher and an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Davis.