Assessing Healthcare Accessibility Algorithms: A Comprehensive Investigation of Two-Step Floating Catchment Methodologies Family

The Affordable Care Act has altered the healthcare landscape in the US. The Act mandated US residents to obtain health insurance. However, having insurance does not necessarily equal to having access to healthcare. This legislation made it imperative to conduct more research in healthcare accessibility domain. Recent advances in measuring healthcare accessibility have been fueled by a rapid improvement of the Floating Catchment Area (FCA) methodologies. This study summarizes the existing knowledge on spatial accessibility metrics, more specifically, the FCA family. Organization of previous studies in a more comprehensive manner can inform both researchers and practitioners regarding different FCA methodologies. Finally, the study provides a step-by-step analysis methodology, which is beneficial for decision makers when considering solutions to the problem of physician shortage areas