HC Distributed Health Services

The Distributed Health Services working group addresses the dilemmas of health care delivery decisions that arise because of geographical disparities among providers and recipients. A representative sample of the services, resources, and frameworks that the group will target includes
* rehabilitation services that span multiple facilities,
* community-based coaching,
* mobile health units,
* dental services in rural areas,
* home health care,
* emergency transport,
* large-scale interventions,
* certificate of need (CON) regulations, and
* in-home testing devices.

A key component of this work is the characterization of communities' health needs, demographics, and access to care; where access to care refers in part to the availability and affordability of facilities, care providers, technology, medicine, and transportation. The group will consist of statisticians, operations researchers, and systems engineers and will work in conjunction with providers, administrators, consultants, and government officials. We seek to identify the needs of underserved communities through statistical means; to devise, evaluate, model, and enhance processes for targeted population segments; and to support the development of informed health care policy to promote sustainable and more uniform access to quality care.