141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

291999
Visualizing the healthcare workforce of the United States

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 1:10 PM - 1:30 PM

Sean Finnegan, MS , Robert Graham Center, American Academy of Family Physicians, Washington, DC
Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH , Robert Graham Center, American Academy of Family Physicians, Washington, DC
Jennifer Rankin, PhD , Robert Graham Center, American Academy of Family Physicians, Washington, DC
Mark Carrozza, MA
Jené Grandmont, MA
Background: A nation's health is only as good as its healthcare workforce and it is vital that we understand the distribution of the workforce in order to ensure access to healthcare for all United States Citizens as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Utilizing geographic information systems and online interactive data display tools is one way in which this task can be accomplished in order to assist in important policy decisions to address shortages in the workforce. Objectives: To inform policy decisions addressing healthcare workforce shortages through the utilization of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National Plan & Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) and the visualization of the primary care physician workforce. Methods: The locations of selected primary care physicians in the NPPES dataset were geocoded and aggregating to US Census Geographies. Results: From this filtered dataset, the US primary care physician workforce can be displayed at the state, county, or Census Tract level, within metropolitan areas. Additional qualifiers, such as physician gender, or population to physician ratio thresholds, can be selected by users of this online mapping and data display tool for analysis of potential shortages of physicians. Discussion: Through the utilization of the freely available NPPES data and display of primary care physicians locations by Census Geographies, important policy decisions can be made in order to identify, and encourage policy driven corrections to, shortages in the primary care physician workforce.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe issues around healthcare workforce and the utilization of geographic information systems for addressing them. Evaluate primary care physician workforce shortages through the utilization of an online mapping and data display tool.

Keywords: Access to Care, Geographic Information Systems

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a geographer with a Masters of Science. I have several years of experience with geographic information systems and online mapping tools. Additionally, I have been a co-principal of multiple federal and privately funded grants and projects.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.