Defining Rational Hospital Catchments for Non-Urban Areas Based on Travel-Time

Background: Cost containment typically involves rationalizing healthcare service delivery throughcentralization of services to achieve economies of scale. Hospitals are frequently the chosen site ofcost containment and rationalization especially in rural areas. Socio-demographic and geographiccharacteristics make hospital service allocation more difficult in rural and remote regions. Thisresearch presents a methodology to model rational catchments or service areas around ruralhospitals – based on travel time.Results: This research employs a vector-based GIS network analysis to model catchments thatbetter represent access to hospital-based healthcare services in British Columbia's rural andremote areas. The tool permits modelling of alternate scenarios in which access to different basketsof services (e.g. rural maternity care or ICU) are assessed. In addition, estimates of the percentageof population that is served – or not served -within specified travel times are calculated.Conclusion: The modelling tool described is useful for defining true geographical catchmentsaround rural hospitals as well as modelling the percentage of the population served within certaintime guidelines (e.g. one hour) for specific health services. It is potentially valuable to policy makersand health services allocation specialists.