Mapping Medical Underservice

This work examines whether Indiana physicians' choices to practice in medically underserved areas of Indiana are associated with select physician characteristics. Analysis was limited to primary care physicians currently practicing, whose birth city and/or state were known (if American born) and whose current practice location could be matched to an Indiana ZIP Code. The underserved areas and physician data were mapped using ArcGIS. Chi square and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify significant associations between the physician characteristics and practice location. The results, when compared with other studies that have found physician hometown to be a predictive factor, seems to confirm and strengthen the argument that factors in a physician's past, including social and economic setting of his or her upbringing, influence choice to practice in underserved areas.