Riverside/San Bernardino encompasses a vast geographic area, which creates significant health care access challenges for residents. The recession and housing market collapse hit the Riverside/San Bernardino region hard. It has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country, and many residents were employed in housing construction and development.
To provide more perspective on the unique challenges facing Riverside/San Bernardino and other large health care markets in California, CHCF asked the Center for Studying Health System Change to produce a regional market study in six areas: Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside/San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay Area. These reports are published as part of CHCF's California Health Care Almanac.
Key findings of the Riverside/San Bernardino report include:
- Most hospitals are concentrated near the major population centers in northwestern Riverside County and in southwestern San Bernardino County.
- Many physicians practice in solo or small-group practices.
- Health plan competition has decreased as a result of many mergers and acquisitions over the last 20 to 30 years.
- Counties differ in how outpatient safety-net services are provided. In Riverside, the county runs family health centers; in San Bernardino, primary care sites are run mostly by private organizations.
The complete issue brief and an executive summary are available through Document Downloads. An addendum to the brief is included under Related CHCF Pages.