This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Khan, A. A. Articles by Bhardwaj, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Khan, A. A. Articles by Bhardwaj, S. M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Access to Health Care

A Conceptual Framework and its Relevance to Health Care Planning

GeoEnvironmental Systems

Surinder M. Bhardwaj

Kent State University

Despite some serious past efforts to clarify its multiple dimensions and meanings, access to health care has remained a rather elusive concept, hampering the work of health care policymakers and professionals as they endeavor to effect meaningful health care reform. This article provides perhaps the most detailed clarification of the access concept, especially the crucial linkages among the various access dimensions, and presents a comprehensive conceptual framework for evaluation and planning activities as they relate to people's access to health care services. The proposed conceptual model recognizes access as the outcome of a process involving the interplay between the characteristics of the health care service system and of potential users in a specified area, and moderated by health care related public policy and planning efforts. An elaborate typology of access, incorporating four pairs of access dimensions, is also derived. This atomization of the concept allows us to focus on specific aspects of the access to health care problem, and to develop precise outcome indicators of health system performance for evaluative purposes. Further, it enables the access concept and its pertinent dimensions to be put into proper perspective when assessing the health care access situation in a specific national or regional context. The relevance of the proposed access model and the typology to health care planning in general, and to spatial planning of health care service systems in particular; is also discussed.

Evaluation & the Health Professions, Vol. 17, No. 1, 60-76 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/016327879401700104


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?