Attractive accessibility: Exploring disparities in attributes of primary care physicians in New Jersey
by Yingning Xie and Michael Smart
Highlights
- High competition results in moderate transit accessibility in census tracts near NYC.
- Infrastructure constraints limit e-bike riders in New Jersey from accessing PCPs in NYC.
- Disadvantaged areas exhibit relatively higher accessibility to attractive PCPs.
- Disadvantaged areas have greater access to non-English-speaking PCPs.
- High-quality PCPs are a smaller proportion of doctors accessible to patients in disadvantaged areas.
Abstract
This study examines the spatial accessibility of primary care physicians (PCPs) in New Jersey and neighboring areas. We compare the general accessibility of all PCPs with ‘attractive accessibility’—the accessibility of PCPs with desirable attributes, such as being board-certified, receiving high online ratings (score ≥4), or speaking a language other than English, including Spanish. Accessibility indices were computed using the 2-Step Floating Catchment Area method with a 30-min travel time from census tracts in New Jersey. On average, we identify a weighted number of 26.0 PCPs per 10,000 residents accessible by car, 1.1 by transit, and 7.9 by e-bike. Transit accessibility is high in tracts near Philadelphia but moderate near New York City due to intense competition for doctors. E-bikes improve accessibility but modestly benefit tracts near New York City due to limited cycling infrastructure. Census tracts with higher proportions of socially disadvantaged populations generally have greater accessibility to PCPs, including those with attractive attributes. However, when examining the ratio of attractive accessibility to overall accessibility, these areas tend to access lower proportions of highly rated PCPs, yet higher proportions of Spanish-speaking PCPs.
Citation
Yingning Xie, Michael Smart, Attractive accessibility: Exploring disparities in attributes of primary care physicians in new Jersey, Health & Place, Volume 95, 2025,
103535, ISSN 1353-8292, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103535.