Rural access to healthcare: Building a longitudinal panel dataset to inform policy
Healthcare consolidation is a growing trend across the United States, particularly in rural areas, and may come with consequences for healthcare that is routine, recurrent, or time sensitive. Service reductions and closures may act as a barrier to care for rural patients, who already travel longer distances to reach health care services. At the same time, the expanding landscape of virtual healthcare services provides an opportunity for greater access to some types of care. This one-year project will develop a unique individual-level longitudinal panel dataset that can be used to evaluate the connections between spatial access and routine healthcare utilization in the largely rural state of Vermont. The dataset will be built from insurance enrollment and claims data from the Vermont Health Care Uniform Reporting and Evaluation System (VHCURES) that captures approximately 400,000 to 500,000 individuals annually from 2007 to 2027. Using insights from prior literature, the dataset will be built to capture spatial access to healthcare providers, healthcare utilization, and residential location and mobility. An exploratory analysis of the dataset will identify specific types of healthcare services and utilization that present opportunities for deeper evaluation of causal relationships. Based on gaps in prior literature and the exploratory analysis, this project will conduct a preliminary case study to demonstrate the value of the dataset. Expected outcomes include a literature review, a rigorously constructed and documented dataset, descriptive statistics, and a final report detailing dataset design, scope, limitations, and promising areas for future research. This project provides a foundation for future analyses to evaluate long-term causal relationships between spatial healthcare access and healthcare utilization to inform investments in health services in rural settings, including those in other regions/jurisdictions.
- Record URL:
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $219,976.00
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Contract Numbers:
DOT 69A3552348319
DOT 69A3552344814
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Sponsor Organizations:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC United States 20590National Center for Sustainable Transportation
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA United States Transportation Research Center
Burlington, Vermont United States 05405 -
Managing Organizations:
National Center for Sustainable Transportation
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA United States Transportation Research Center
Burlington, Vermont United States 05405University of California Davis
Institute of Transportation Studies
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Project Managers:
Cliff, Sydney
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Performing Organizations:
National Center for Sustainable Transportation
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA United States Transportation Research Center
Burlington, Vermont United States 05405 -
Principal Investigators:
Mah, Sarah
Rowangould, Dana
- Start Date: 20260901
- Expected Completion Date: 20270831
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Datasets; Health care; Mobility; Public health; Rural areas; Spatial analysis; Travel demand
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Transportation (General);
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 02001859
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
- Contract Numbers: DOT 69A3552348319, DOT 69A3552344814
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Sep 8 2026 5:07PM