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Geographic market areas for psychiatric and medical outpatient treatment

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Abstract

The research objective was to measure the variation in the size of a facility's market areas across different diagnostic categories. Specifically, the market area radii for outpatient psychiatric services are compared to the radii for outpatient medical services. Data were collected from the outpatient clinics of the Little Rock Veterans Administration Medical Center. Visits were categorized into 100 diagnostic groups. The market radius for each diagnostic group was defined as the 75th quartile of the distribution of distances traveled. All psychiatric diagnostic groups had significantly (p < 0.05) smaller market area radii than the overall sample radius. The average market area radius across psychiatric illnesses was 62.2 miles, which was significantly (p < 0.05) smaller than the average radius across medical illnesses (90.6 miles). Results suggest that rural patients with mental illness may not receive adequate care and that specialized outreach programs may need to be developed to better serve this population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Services Research and Development Field Program for Mental Health (152/NLR), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2200 Fort Roots Dr., 72114, North Little Rock, AR

    John C. Fortney Ph.D. (Research Health Scientist), Richard R. Owen M.D. (associate professor) & Mingliang Zhang Ph.D. (assistant professor)

  2. the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

    A. Elizabeth Lancaster B.S. (computer specialist)

  3. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas

    Richard R. Owen M.D. (associate professor) & Mingliang Zhang Ph.D. (assistant professor)

Authors
  1. John C. Fortney Ph.D.
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  2. A. Elizabeth Lancaster B.S.
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  3. Richard R. Owen M.D.
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  4. Mingliang Zhang Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John C. Fortney Ph.D..

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Fortney, J.C., Lancaster, A.E., Owen, R.R. et al. Geographic market areas for psychiatric and medical outpatient treatment. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 25, 108–116 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02287506

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02287506

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