Percentages of agreement in potential factors for the Rurality Index for Japan
| Potential factors | Percentages of agreement | Decision | |
| First survey | Second survey | ||
| Population density | 77.6 | 68.2 | Third survey |
| Distance to the nearest secondary or tertiary hospital | 83.5 | Included | |
| Distance to the nearest hospital which provides care for patients with acute stroke | 74.1 | 83.4 | Combined into ‘distance to the nearest secondary or tertiary hospital’ |
| Distance to the nearest hospital which provides care for patients with an acute heart attack | 76.5 | 86.4 | Combined into ‘distance to the nearest secondary or tertiary hospital’ |
| Distance to the nearest hospital which provides care for pregnant women for delivery | 72.9 | 77.3 | Rejected |
| Disadvantaged area | 57.6 | Changed into ‘population decline rate’* | |
| Heavy snowfall area | 49.4 | Combined with ‘Whether weather such as heavy snow influences access to the nearest secondary or tertiary hospital’ | |
| Remote island | 90.6 | Included | |
| Remote island with a clinic or hospital | 92.9 | Combined into ‘remote island’ | |
| Bridge between remote island and main island | 81.2 | Combined into ‘remote island’ | |
| Whether weather such as heavy snow influences access to the nearest secondary hospital | 75.2 | 83.3 | Included |
| Availability of public transportation to the nearest secondary hospital | 70.6 | 59.1 | Rejected |
| Availability of emergency helicopter to the nearest secondary hospital | 65.9 | 78.8 | Rejected |
| Availability of house call | 41.2 | 53.0 | Rejected |
| Community General Support Centre | 27.1 | 50.0 | Rejected |
| Availability of care management for elderly | 34.1 | 78.8 | Rejected |
| Additional factors from the second survey by the steering team discussion | |||
| Population decline rate | 54.5 | Rejected | |
| Proportion of people aged 65 years and over | 68.2 | Rejected | |
| Proportion of people aged 15–29 years | 59.1 | Rejected | |
| Comments | |||
| Distance to the nearest pharmacy. Availability of CT/MRI. Physician/population ratio. | |||
Community General Support Centre: The centre provides community-based-integrated care, including living arrangements, social care and daily life support services.40
Care management: Care management means coordination by licensed care managers of the different services provided by different providers to accommodate geographically dispersed home settings.40
*The definition of the disadvantaged area included the population decline rate.