This page was created by Manish Tyagi.
Exploring Large Healthcare Databases with Geographic Information Systems to Inform Medical Transport Health Policy
Participant - Andrew Reimer
Mentions
- https://scalar.case.edu/freedman-fellows/reimer-2019-2020
- https://thedaily.case.edu/announcing-the-2019-20-freedman-faculty-fellows/
Approximately 1.6 million patients undergo interhospital transfer (IHT) each year in the United States. Of those IHTs, approximately 550,000 are conducted by air1 (i.e., helicopters or jets), or roughly one every 60 seconds, at an estimated annual cost of $6 billion.2 Contrary to common belief, patients who undergo IHT experience worse outcomes, which include double the length of stay, twice the cost, and higher mortality than non-transferred patients.3,4 Our preliminary work suggests that transfer by air has little to no impact on morbidity or mortality. The industry has been entrenched in these transport practices for decades, requiring broader approaches such as changing reimbursement practices that may ultimately influence changes in practice that will reduce costs while maintaining patient safety and outcomes.
The goal of this exploratory project is to pair existing state and national databases of patient hospitalizations and associated medical transfers with geographical information systems (GIS) mapping technology to develop a robust analysis tool to support health policy efforts.