CASE STUDY | THE REGENSTRIEF INSTITUTE
LOCAL HEALTH MAPS: WHEN
FUNDING FOLLOWS ILLNESS
Where should public health departments allocate their limited resources
to address the most pressing health issues?
The Polis Center, the Regenstrief Institute,
the Indiana University (IU) Richard M.
Fairbanks School of Public Health, and the
Marion County Public Health Department
have embarked on a project to help answer
this question. Funded by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, this innovative method
for using health data could change the
way decisions are made by public health
professionals.
The partners are working with electronic
health records (EHRs) from health care
systems to get a more accurate picture of
the distribution of chronic health problems
across Marion County. They are using socioeconomic data from the SAVI Community
Information System—a signature project
of The Polis Center—to identify associated
disparities and social risk factors.
In the past, health departments have relied
on surveys for this information, which can be
subjective and based on individual perception.
“Health records capture observed disease
symptoms and, in aggregate, can reveal
potential social and environmental issues we
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need to address,” says Brian E. Dixon, lead
investigator, of the Regenstrief Institute.
The goal is to help officials use new
data to identify risk factors for individual
communities and focus on the issues that will
have the greatest impact on public health.
Because Indiana’s county health departments
have a finite level of funding and resources,
more accurate data may allow public health
professionals to see which neighborhood and
communities are most affected by specific
diseases so they can allocate their resources
more effectively.
“Timely local information can help public
health decision-makers identify disparities
and high-risk groups, target interventions
to appropriate populations, and evaluate
programs,” says Karen Comer, Director of
Health Geoinformatics at The Polis Center.
Dixon adds, “Before, health department
staff could make a good guess, but this
project explores the local data and makes it
possible for them to take an evidence-based
approach to their work.”