Spatial Access to Cancer Care Providers in National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center Catchment Areas

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Geographic Information Systems
• Cancer Care Delivery

Background:

• Access to care is crucial for cancer center catchment area (CA) analytics.
• Spatial access quantifies patient travel to healthcare providers.
• No comprehensive studies have calculated CA spatial access to providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine spatial access to oncology, cancer care, and primary care providers.
• To analyze access across all 65 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center CAs in the contiguous US.
• To identify disparities in spatial access based on various demographic and geographic factors.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 2024 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services National Downloadable File.
• Employed the enhanced two-step floating CA method to compute spatial accessibility.
• Stratified analyses by cancer center, census division, urban/rural status, area deprivation, and cancer center type.

Main Results:

• Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center CA showed highest oncology/cancer care access; Masonic Cancer Center had highest primary care access.
• New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania CAs led in oncology/cancer care access; midwestern CAs led in primary care access.
• Urban tracts consistently had higher spatial access than rural tracts across all provider types and deprivation levels.

Conclusions:

• Significant regional, urban/rural, socioeconomic, and cancer center type differences exist in CA spatial access.
• Findings highlight geographic disparities in accessing essential cancer care services.
• Understanding these variations is key for optimizing cancer center operations and patient outreach.