GIS puts HSR on TCM’s Map!

We received word today that HSR has been nominated for the Maryland Tech Council’s (TCM) Emerging Company award, based in large part on our GIS platform, GeoHealth Dashboard. We are truly honored and humbled by this nomination.

The GeoHealth Dashboard is a Geographic Information System (GIS) with a data analytic engine that merges demographic data & trends, health data, and social determinants of health outcomes to address a range of population health issues – including the opioid epidemic, patient risk stratification, as well as managing overall Total Cost of Care (TCOC) containment efforts.

History of the GeoHealth Dashboard

The GeoHealth Dashboard was borne as an internal tool to facilitate our research into medical transportation issues in rural areas. We were analyzing the impact transportation networks have on the accessibility of healthcare services in the five-county Mid-Shore region of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

To conduct that study, we needed a GIS that allowed us to see the roads and local transit systems as well as population demographics so we could assess the challenges people face in reaching existing medical facilities. The image above is a view of the dashboard that illustrates demographic data and trends at the County and Zip Code level.

That work allowed us to develop strategies to assist healthcare providers identify locations for medical facilities that are the most convenient for patients.

Insights into locating medical facilities helped us leverage the GeoHealth Dashboard to determine areas where existing healthcare service levels may present insufficient capacity to meet the demand for healthcare needs – and where there is an overcapacity. For instance, our research identified means of comparing population levels and disease incident rates within a region against resource levels of medical providers serving that region.

By identifying healthcare service delivery capacity at a regional level, we were able to develop approaches to track overall healthcare activity – including costs – within specific regions.

Opioid Epidemic Response

This effort of merging disparate data sets through the GeoHealth Dashboard’s intuitive, visual display led to mechanisms for identifying special correlations between drug sources and drug incidents that can be leveraged to more effectively allocate anti-diversion efforts and addiction counseling services.

What’s Next for GIS & the GeoHealth Dashboard

The scope and potential of a GIS-based approaches for analyzing population health challenges is truly limited only by creativity. Our GeoHealth Dashboard is a flexible, robust platform and it is literally every day we realize additional ways to leverage its potential.

Our GIS Supporters

Nothing good is built in isolation. And we would like to note the support received in building the GeoHealth Dashboard from the Department of Geography and Geosciences at Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD. We recommend their internship program to any firm developing a GIS product.

The ultimate Emerging Company Award winner will be announced at the TCM’s Industry Awards Celebration event on June 1st. See you there.