Re-Evaluating Access in Healthcare: Focus on Quality of Care

The ability of patients to readily and seamlessly obtain healthcare services is a crucial element of high-quality medical care. Access-defined by the National Academy of Medicine as "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcome"-directly impacts individual and population health as efforts to optimize access inherently promote well-being and reduce disparities. The link between access and quality is so fundamental to the patient experience that they have become increasingly intertwined as a unified concept. However, due to the sheer complexity of the healthcare system, barriers to access are gradually being recognized as the boundaries among technology, medicine, business, public health, and policy become blurred. The contribution of many human elements, including those stemming from the provider-patient relationship, in optimizing access must also be recognized. Ultimately, improving access requires concerted engagement from a myriad of stakeholders with the goal of prioritizing timely, equitable, personalized, and high-quality care, while empowering patients to take charge of their own health. Although it presents a profound challenge, the journey toward bridging the many gaps is just beginning, and how society re-defines the access imperative in healthcare in an ever-evolving landscape represents one of the foremost issues of the future. This is because access is dependent on ensuring that high-quality, evidence-based healthcare resources are available for everyone. Indeed, the implications for society are tremendous given that access is central to quality of care, profoundly impacts the patient experience, and influences health outcomes. The purpose of this review is to outline the core issues that contribute to this paradigm while focusing on exploring the relationships between access and quality of care.