Geographic Access to Urogynecology Care in the United States

Although access to urogynecologic care is known to influence patient outcomes, less is known regarding geographic access to care and how it may vary by population characteristics.

The primary objective of this study was to estimate geographic accessibility of urogynecologic services in terms of drive time and by population demographics.

We performed a descriptive study using practice location data by zip code for all board-certified urogynecologists who are American Urogynecologic Society members (n = 497) and pelvic floor physical therapists (n = 985). Drive times from each zip code to the nearest health care professional zip code were calculated. These data were then overlaid onto a map of the continental United States. Race/ethnicity, age, education, poverty status, disability status, health insurance coverage, and rurality were compared across travel times.

Of the 31,754 zip codes of the continental United States, 389 (1.23%) had at least 1 urogynecologist, and 785 (2.47%) had at least 1 pelvic floor physical therapist; 92.29 million women older than 35 years were represented in the demographic analyses. Seventy-nine percent of the studied population live within 1 hour of a urogynecologist, and 85% live within 1 hour of a pelvic floor physical therapist. Seven percent and 3% live >2 hours from urogynecologic services, respectively. Values for drive times to all health care professionals indicate that American Indian/Alaska Native individuals have a much greater travel burden than other racial/ethnic groups.

There are population groups with limited geographic access to urogynecologic services. Pelvic floor physical therapists are more geographically accessible to the population studied than urogynecologists.