Abstract

Using GIS to find Medical Homes for Emergency Department Patients.
Track: Health and Human Services
Authors: Jonathan Willis

Recent changes to Medicare funding present great challenges to hospitals in caring for those patients who have chronic conditions but no means of routine care. These patients often resort to the local emergency department as a source of "routine care when their chronic disease advances to what are sometimes threatening stages. Research indicates that these people tend to be older, poorer and have lower educational attainment. Patients cite lack of transportation, provider proximity and inability to pay as reasons for not seeking needed care. This practice worsens health outcomes, increases morbidity and mortality and strains an already overloaded healthcare system. This project presents a working model and workflow to match patients to providers. Using GIS, patients with specific Diagnosis Codes for specific chronic diseases are identified from emergency department visits and matched spatially to qualified providers, considering factors most affecting the reasons for avoidance of routine care.