The challenge of providing high quality, accessible health care to Maine's aging and rural population has been evident and slowly mounting for twenty or more years. More recent energy and transportation cost volatility has compounded this challenge and complicated policy making and health service delivery. Despite these challenges, Maine has maintained its commitment to providing high quality, effective transportation for health care services and has improved its infrastructure for doing so via private, public, and cooperative initiatives.

As Maine's population grows older, communities across the state will confront issues not only of how to provide medical transportation services, but also of how to preserve Maine's quality of life in rural communities, towns, and cities. The recent spike in gas prices signals that planning and coordination are essential if Maine is going to effectively meet the transportation and health care challenges throughout the United States.

This is one in a series of policy briefs written for the 2009 Policy Leaders Academy Health Care Forum.