Access to timely ambulance service is an essential part of the emergency medical system. Yet ambulance access varies widely with significant gaps across the country. This research from the FORHP-supported Rural Health Research Gateway identifies places and people that are more than 25 minutes from an ambulance station, also called an ambulance desert, across 41 states. The maps include the locations of hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs).
Researchers at the Maine Rural Health Research Center built this work on their 2023 chartbook Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services.