There is substantial demand from public and private sector analysts for detailed and accurate information on access to health services and long- term care for older Americans. The health benefits associated with good access are widely cited in the public health literature and incorporated into state and federal regulations. We propose to create measures of access to health care and long-term care for the elderly in a Geographic Information System(GIS) database for two states with large and growing elderly populations: North Carolina and South Carolina. The central goal of this proposal is to precisely locate every medical facility serving the elderly and housing specifically for the elderly (nursing homes, assisted-living facilities) in a GIS data base. By digitizing the specific location of each of these facilities, accurate and detailed estimates of service accessibility are possible. Detailed population data on the elderly will be added as the second layer of data in this GIS data base. We also will compile data on morbidity, mortality, health care use, and other conditions for the elderly from federal sources and state sources. The data base will be made available to private, public, not-for-profit and academic organizations to evaluate access to health care, to evaluate long-term care, to plan for expansion of services and facilities, and to analyze deficiencies in health services and long-term care.
There is demand from the private sector for this data for market planning and licensing requirements, from the public sector for regulatory analysis, and from health service researcher in all sectors.
