![]() Medical facilities at different levels have different service capabilities (and scales) and layout requirements, resulting in differences in hospital accessibility. Developing countries, including Brazil, India, Poland, and Thailand, have also gradually implemented the initial community diagnosis and grade-by-tier referral system and have constantly paid attention to the construction of a hierarchical medical service system. According to the different medical needs of residents, different levels of medical facilities provide basic outpatient services, critical and specialist patient diagnosis and treatment services, and refined inpatient medical services. Developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Finland, and Japan have established a relatively clear three-level hierarchical medical service system. At the level of the system structure of medical facilities, many countries have adopted and are still promoting the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. Previous studies proved that the spatial layout of medical facilities has a significant impact on the overall medical service level of a city, and the rational layout of urban medical facilities is of great significance for improving hospital accessibility, ensuring the medical needs of residents, and eliminating spatial polarization. ![]() Hospital accessibility is an irreplaceable indicator to assess the quality of public medical services and can affect individuals’ healthcare-seeking behavior in many ways. The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that the availability of high-quality medical services is an extremely important factor affecting public health and equity. Public medical services are an important foundation to ensure the sustainable development of society, and the quality of medical services is directly related to people’s health and social equity. This study further improves the hospital accessibility assessment method, with the findings provide a spatial decision support system for urban planners and policymakers regarding optimizing the spatial structure and layout of transportation systems and medical facilities. Results show that there are significant spatial and temporal differences in hospital accessibility in Shijingshan District, and traffic congestion and the layout of medical facilities are the two most important factors affecting hospital accessibility. To avoid these pitfalls, this study considers the Shijingshan District, Beijing, China, as an empirical case and proposes an improved potential model based on Web Mapping API (Application Programming Interface) to assess the hospital accessibility of hospitals at different levels during different time periods. ![]() Although critical, previous studies on accessibility have often overlooked the layout of medical facilities at different levels and the accurate measures of travel time to hospitals, which are both the most critical and fundamental indicators when assessing hospital accessibility. Hospital accessibility has an extremely important impact on the allocation efficiency and fairness of medical facilities. Urban medical facilities are an irreplaceable foundation for ensuring higher levels of public health and medical equity.
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