2021 Volume 7 Pages 18-27
The purpose of this study was to address regional uneven distribution of healthcare resources related to medical imaging. We measured Gini’s coefficient and the coefficient of variation based on the “Survey of Medical Institutions ” (number of Radiological Technologists, Serial angiography, Mammography, RI exam, PET, CT, MRI, 3D image processing) to compare potential regional differences. In addition, we evaluated regional features using a hierarchical cluster analysis. Our study reveals that the number of “Radiological Technologists ” presented a lower regional difference compared to physicians, as opposed to “Medical imaging ” that presented a higher regional difference than physicians. Furthermore, our study classified all 47 prefectures into seven clusters that describe and define the features of each region. We suggest that the results of this study will be useful for the efficient planning and improvement of the medical care provision system in each prefecture.
