Why medical deserts are on the rise—and how patients there are accessing in-person care

Lyft

Why medical deserts are on the rise—and how patients there are accessing in-person care

Twenty-one percent of adults without access to a vehicle or public transit went without needed medical care in 2022. It’s a sobering stat that points at a real problem: Unlike online shopping or dinner delivery, people need to get to health care to actually receive it. This is trickier in regions where essential medical services are hard to reach, often called “medical deserts.” In these areas, even routine medical visits can become ordeals.

Take the simple act of picking up a prescription. For many of us, that requires only a quick drive (or even walk): A majority of Americans live within two miles of a pharmacy. But the U.S. has seen a 15% decline in retail pharmacies since 2021, leaving many communities without easy, convenient access to medications, Lyft explains.

Data from GoodRX suggests that in 40% of counties, residents have to travel over 15 minutes to get to nearby pharmacies—but it’s in the rural states of North Dakota, Alaska, and Montana, and the more urban states of Texas and Georgia—where riders have to travel the farthest. The situation is particularly striking in Apache County, Arizona; Woodford County, Illinois; and Delaware County, New York—which are the three largest counties where 100% of residents live in pharmacy deserts.

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Pharmacy Deserts Across the Country

Long pharmacy rides were generally more common in rural counties, with under 50 people per square mile. Among high-density counties, pharmacy deserts are 30% more likely to occur in counties with a higher share of African American residents.

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Medical Care Issues Add to Pharmacy Desert Existence

Pharmacies are only part of the problem—there are also disparities in access to medical care. The average American lives roughly 5 miles away from a hospital, and many have to travel over 10 miles for routine health care visits. This distance is not just an inconvenience: Living far from a medical facility is associated with fewer visits to a primary care physician and worse outcomes for patients with cancer and chronic conditions.

GoodRX data suggests that across the U.S., 20% of counties are hospital deserts, where the closest hospital is generally over 30 minutes away. These rates are twice as high in Alaska, North Dakota, and Missouri, and there are several counties where all residents have to travel over 30 miles to get to a hospital–those with populations over 38,000 include Valencia County, New Mexico; Webster County, Missouri; and Kendall County, Texas.

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One in Four Patients Use Rideshare to Navigate Health Care Deserts

While health deserts have long been a problem in the U.S., rideshare is helping to cross them. Visits to and from health care facilities have emerged as a major use case for rideshare services, with 26% of riders in a recent Lyft survey reporting using rideshares to access health care services.

To meet the demand for convenient and reliable transportation in these medical care deserts, thousands of hospitals partner directly with rideshare companies, some of which are authorized as non-emergency medical transportation services, to provide transportation to appointments and pharmacies.