Presented to the Faculty
of the University of Alaska Anchorage
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCEData on healthcare access barriers are lacking for any location in the state of Alaska. The current
project set out to describe the barriers to healthcare access experienced by people living in the
rural Homer Area of southcentral Alaska. Of the 124 surveys returned 50 (46%) of the
respondents identified cost, lack of specialists, transportation, time, and mistrust/dislike of
providers as barriers that had kept them from accessing local heathcare in the previous 12
months. Improving healthcare access for this rural population will require a paradigm shift in
how we think about healthcare. Novel approaches to when, where, and how healthcare is
delivered will need to be considered if healthcare access is to be improved in the region.Title Page / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Figures / List of Appendices / Introduction / Literature Review / Framework / Methods / Results / Discussion / References / Appendice
