Spatial accessibility and travel to pharmacy by type in the Detroit region

Community pharmacies are a critical part of the health care provision system. Yet less is understood about the spatial accessibility to pharmacies and how people travel to reach these services.

This study compared spatial accessibility and actual travel to different types of pharmacies among selected neighborhoods in the Detroit region.

Three types of neighborhoods were selected and compared, including two lower income Black urban neighborhoods of high-density and four upper income White suburbs (two of low density and two of high density). Spatial accessibility was computed by pharmacy type and compared among neighborhoods using ANOVA. Pharmacy trips reported in a travel survey were geocoded and linked with community pharmacies in a list generated from ReferenceUSA business data. Destination choices were mapped and the relationship between spatial accessibility and actual distance traveled was examined using ordinary least squares regressions.

On average, urban residents in Detroit had higher access to local independent pharmacies (0.74 miles to the nearest one) but relatively lower access to national chains (1.35 miles to the nearest one), which most residents relied on. Urban residents also tended to shop around more for services even among national chains. In fact, they bypassed nearby local independent pharmacies and traveled long distances to use farther pharmacies, primarily national chains. The average trip distance to pharmacy was 2.1 miles for urban residents, but only 1.1 miles and 1.5 miles for residents in high-density suburbs and low-density suburbs, respectively.

Supposedly good spatial access considering all pharmacies together may mask excessive burden in reaching the pharmacy services needed in low-income minority urban communities, as shown in the case of Detroit. Thus, when mapping pharmacy deserts, it is important to distinguish spatial accessibility among different pharmacy types.