Jonk et al.: Ambulance Deserts and Geographic Disparities in Ambulance Services

In Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services authors Yvonne Jonk, Carly Milkowski, Zachariah Croll, and Karen Pearson (all of the Maine Rural Health Research Center, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine) provide a nation-wide analysis of access to ambulance services in the United States. The research shows that rural residents are more likely to live in an ambulance desert and have a higher response time for emergency services.

“Ambulance deserts” are defined by the authors as a place where people live more than 25 minutes from the nearest ambulance station. The research looked at ambulance services in 41 states across the US with data broken down at the state and county level. Ambulance deserts were identified in every one of the 41 states surveyed, and the researchers compared the findings for each state.

The researchers found a total of 4.5 million people living in an ambulance desert, with 2.3 million of that population living in rural counties. Although the total number of people who live in ambulance deserts is split almost evenly between urban and rural populations, the lower number of rural residents overall means they are more likely to live in an ambulance desert. Specifically, 9.3% of all people who live in rural counties live in an ambulance desert, compared to just 3.5% of urban county populations.

Table 1 - Prevalence of Ambulance Deserts (AD) in Rural and Urban Counties Across 41 states, 2021-2022, (p. 11).

The authors identified significant differences in the prevalence of ambulance deserts between states. For example, the total population living in ambulance deserts ranged from 0.2% for the lowest state to 27.8% on the high end. The research team also identified that geographical areas within states, such as mountainous or coastal lands, had a higher percentage of the population living in ambulance deserts.

This article provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of the problems people face in access to ambulance services across the United States. Although the population researched is broad and encompasses 41 states, the article still provides an in-depth analysis of each state. The author’s work highlights current challenges in access to ambulance services and helps provide guidance for those working to ensure access to healthcare.