Residents of neighbor island and rural communities face numerous challenges — from long ambulance response times to costly and unreliable non-emergency transportation to lack of coverage for travel-related expenses — that their counterparts in urban Honolulu do not when trying to access timely and affordable health care, according to a new report by the University of Hawaii Rural Health Research and Policy Center.
“Improving access will require coordinated efforts across healthcare, transportation and policy sectors,” said RHRPC policy and data analyst John Desfor. “We hope this research will guide meaningful action to improve transportation access for healthcare in rural communities across Hawaiʻi.”
Research for The Impacts of Transportation and Travel Access of Rural Health in Hawaii included an extensive literature review and interviews with 40 subjects representing health care, transportation services and insurance. The four-part report, which includes a compilation of policy options for addressing key issues, was authored by Desfor, Keilyn Kawakami, Monica Ho, Diana Shaw, Amy Ma, Tetine Sentell and Aimee Malia Grace…