Impacts of Access to Hospital and Emergency Care on Rural Mortality in Tennessee, 2010–2019: A GIS-Informed Study

Rural Tennessee’s health and economic disparities have worsened since 2010 (while the state led the nation in hospital closures per capita). Guided by the Vulnerable Populations Conceptual Model, we examined the relationship between Tennessee’s county-level rural mortality rates and declining access to hospital and emergency care in the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (avoiding pandemic-related delayed data releases and potential statistical modeling issues). We conducted a retrospective, ecological correlational study using geographic information systems and annual cross-sectional secondary data, employing aspatial and spatial negative binomial generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs). Our bivariate models revealed significant correlations between hospital and emergency care access and mortality rates, but the effect decreased when adjusted for rurality, median household income, age, and other covariates. While access to hospital and emergency care influences mortality, our findings indicate that socioeconomic and demographic factors have a greater impact, underscoring the strong health-wealth connection in rural Tennessee.