Ambulance Deserts: Addressing Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services

The declining numbers of rural hospitals and ambulance services imply that remaining ambulance services are being tasked to play a greater role in delivering emergency services in expanded service areas. Additionally, the delivery of ambulance services has not been systematically integrated, particularly in rural areas, leading to gaps in the provision of ambulance services, also known as “ambulance deserts.” To assist state and regional policymakers in formulating strategic plans to address these gaps, this project, led by Dr. Yvonne Jonk, aims to identify geographic disparities in accessing ambulance services by identifying and mapping ambulance deserts within each state, focusing on the following research questions:

• What areas of the states are ambulance deserts and how prevalent are they?

• What percentage of each state’s population lives in an ambulance desert? Are there rural-urban or regional differences in the share of residents living in these deserts?

FMI: Yvonne Jonk, PhD (yvonne.jonk@maine.edu)

Chartbook released May 2023: Ambulance Deserts: Geographic Disparities in the Provision of Ambulance Services