Healthcare Institutions

While some research suggests that proximity to a hospital can reduce the risk of mortality in an emergency situation, the evidence in urban areas is limited. When individuals choose a hospital for themselves or loved ones, factors like expertise in a specific illness or treatment and history of medical errors may take precedent over location. This suggests that the quality of care in a hospital may be more important than proximity to their neighborhood. 

However, close proximity to a hospital may be important to some populations in non-emergency situations. Low-income people tend to use hospitals frequently for non-emergency care for a variety of reasons. Because emergency rooms are open 24 hours a day and must accept any patient that comes to them, they are often more accessible to people who cannot afford to leave work during normal primary care hours. Furthermore, hospitals don’t charge a co-pay like primary care physicians which can often be a barrier to care even for low-income people with insurance.

The importance of the number of hospitals in a given area varies greatly depending on other neighborhood factors and should be evaluated in tandem with other variables like median household income and insurance coverage rates.