Changes in emergency department access between 2001 and 2005 among general and vulnerable populations.

KEY FINDINGS (1) 11.4 million people faced some degree of deterioration in geographic access to emergency care between 2001 and 2005. (2) Residents in rural communities have poorer access to emergency depart­ments at baseline and experienced a greater decline in emergency depart­ment access than those living in urban communities between 2001 and 2005. (3) Deteriorating access to emergency departments is more likely to occur in communities with economic hard­ship and high shares of Hispanic populations, as well as in rural areas that are part of a designated health professional shortage area.