Primary Care Access in North Carolina is Not Equally Distributed
By Evan Galloway, Julie Spero, Heather Wilson
Mar 24, 2020
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Primary care practitioners per capita is one of the NC Institute of Medicine’s (NCIOM) 21 health indicators for the Healthy NC 2030 project.
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Access to primary care is necessary to improving the health outcomes of communities. With the recent spread of the novel coronavirus in North Carolina, primary care is critical as an entry-point to further care.
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Many rural areas of North Carolina lack adequate access to primary care providers. The disparities in access between rural and metropolitan areas have continued to grow despite an overall increase of physicians in NC, as our previous blog reported.
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On the map below, green indicates the county is meeting NCIOM’s target ratio of 1 primary care provider to every 1,500 people. Currently, 60% of NC’s 100 counties meet the NCIOM’s target. Seven counties were substantially below target: Anson, Northampton, Franklin, Warren, Gates, Tyrrell and Camden. Camden has a population of just over 10,000, and no primary care providers.
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Our definition of primary care clinician includes physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs) and certified nurse midwives (CNMs).
