Citation

Wright DB. World Transp. Policy Pract. 2008; 14(3): 7-23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Eco-Logica)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article presents a systematic review of the literature on transportation barriers to health care access and transportation interventions designed to reduce these barriers. The author conducted a systematic review of the published, peer-reviewed literature on transportation and access to health care in the United States from 1965 to the present using the MEDLINE and TRIS databases. Of the 35 studies identified, 23 were cross-sectional, 9 were qualitative, and 3 were longitudinal. The author considers transportation as an enabling resource, the lack of transportation as an access barrier, and seeks to identify what transportation barriers exist, whom they effect, and what the consequences of those barriers are. The study showed that transportation barriers were greatest among those under the age of 18 and over the age of 65, those on low-income, the unemployed, and those in fair or poor health. The findings from several transportation interventions can be used to determine possible cost-effective approaches to increasing access to health care. The author concludes that transportation barriers prevent millions of Americans from accessing health care. These transportation barriers can be overcome by designing user-friendly, cost-effective interventions that achieve buy-in from the target community.