The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #69998

Andrew W Bazemore, MD, Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research, University of Cincinnati, 202 Goodman Avenue, French East Bldg, Ste 275, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0840, 513-558-2765, andrew.bazemore@uc.edu, Robert L. Phillips, MD, MSPH, Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care, The Robert Graham Center, 1350 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Ste. 950, Washington, DC 20036, and John Robison, Outreach Coordinator, Baltimore Medical Systems, Inc, 3501 Sinclair Lane, Baltimore, MD 21213.

CONTEXT: Community Health Centers (CHC’s) frequently receive grant funding for outreach activities to underserved populations. However, they often lack appropriate tools to direct their outreach activities to populations in greatest need of service. HYPOTHESIS: Using clinic and population data within Geographic Information Systems(GIS), geographically-directed community outreach will improve efficiency of breast health outreach by a CHC outreach team and increase screening of the target population. DESIGN: Non-randomized community intervention, comparing geographically-directed breast cancer screening outreach versus usual outreach in two CHC sites in urban Baltimore The same intervention material will be used by both clinics. One will target outreach efforts to specific block groups that are densely populated by African-American and Hispanic women over forty (2000 Census data) and proximal to the clinic service area (2001 clinic data). The second will use usual strategies for targeting their outreach efforts. OUTCOME MEASURES: 1) Change in response rate for geographically-targeted outreach and usual outreach sites, compared to each other and to historical rates. This will include geographic analysis of responding patients’ home location relative to targeted areas to evaluate clinic cross-over 2) In-depth interviews with outreach staff to evaluate their perceptions of utility of geographic targeting. RESULTS: Mapping of population and clinic data has identified target geographic areas. The intervention is ongoing throughout Spring 2003. CONCLUSIONS: GIS is useful for analyzing and relating complex patient and population data, and can improve outreach efforts to improve population health. We believe it will improve response rates by the target population.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Recognize limitations in traditional primary care community outreach planning
• Articulate how Geographic Information Systems can be used to augment community outreach programs.
• Understand the data, software, and equipment necessary to implement geographically-directed outreach at his/her own primary care clinic

Keywords: Geographic Information Systems, Outreach Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.