What factors affect patients' ability to access healthcare? An overview of systematic reviews

This overview aims to synthesise global evidence on factors affecting healthcare access, and variations across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) vs. high-income countries (HICs); to develop understanding of where barriers to healthcare access lie, and in what context, to inform tailored policies aimed at improving access to healthcare for all who need it.

An overview of systematic reviews guided by a published protocol was conducted. Medline, Embase, Global Health and Cochrane Systematic Reviews databases were searched for published articles. Additional searches were conducted on the Gates Foundation, WHO and World Bank websites. Study characteristics and findings (barriers and facilitators to healthcare access) were documented and summarised. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed using an adapted version of the AMSTAR 2 tool.

Fifty-eight articles were included, 23 presenting findings from LMICs and 35 presenting findings from HICs. While many barriers to healthcare access occur in HICs as well as LMICs, the way they are experienced is quite different. In HICs, there is a much greater emphasis on patient experience; as compared to the physical absence of care in LMICs.

As countries move towards universal healthcare access, evaluation methods that account for health system and wider cultural factors that impact capacity to provide care, healthcare finance systems and the socio-cultural environment of the setting are required. Consequently, methods employed in HICs may not be appropriate in LMICs due to the stark differences in these areas.