Access to healthcare is vital to one’s physical, social, and economic health. Yet, many individuals face barriers to health care that impact their ability to obtain and utilize the services needed to meet their health needs. Health care providers can help address these barriers by ensuring that their patients have affordable and local healthcare options.
While healthcare is increasingly becoming more accessible to a larger number of individuals through the use of technology (e.g., telehealth), there are still numerous barriers that prevent people from having access to the healthcare they need. These barriers include poverty, lack of insurance, and limited transportation options, among others. In addition, the availability of healthcare services may be compromised by geographical locations such as remote rural areas with slow internet connectivity or by shortages of healthcare professionals (e.g., primary care physicians, nurses, community health workers, and pharmacists).
There are various conceptualisations of accessibility to healthcare, ranging from the broad domain encompassing all aspects of utilisation along the pathway from perception of need until benefiting from healthcare, to the narrower domain that sees access as only referring to initial contact with a source of care (e.g., searching for and contacting healthcare providers). A patient-centred approach to assessing access may involve considering five dimensions of ability of potential users that interact with the corresponding dimensions of accessibility to generate access along the path of health care seeking. These dimensions are: 1) Approachability; 2) Acceptability; 3) Availability and accommodation; 4) Affordability; and 5) Appropriateness. access to healthcare