Synthesizing the Role of the Built Environment in Shaping Health via Physician Engagement in the Creation of Healthfulness Indices for West Michigan

Keywords: built environment, health disparities, medical records, participatory GIS
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 35

Abstract

Synthesizing the influence of the built environment on health poses methodological and translational challenges. While geographers commonly employ a range of methods to analyze the built environment, gaps remain in translating such approaches to the medical field. One way to summarize the built environment’s impact is through the creation of healthfulness indices, which combine multiple variables (whose weights are defined through stakeholder input) into a single map. This process offers a straightforward way for such stakeholders—including from the medical field—to be involved in healthcare planning and interventions on a geographic level.

We present here the expansion of a healthfulness index to West Michigan via a local healthcare entity. This process included identification of and consultation with key members of the healthcare community and the formation of relationships with local planners and health departments to procure secondary administrative data. Our team linked patient addresses and medical histories to these indices to determine what aspects of health may be more closely related to the aggregate built environment.

Combining these two datasets—geocoded patient addresses and administrative data—offers greater depth of understanding for both medical geographers and physicians, and presents a meaningful way for such disciplines to increase integration in research endeavors. As with past indices, our results suggest added explanatory power in highlighting health disparities beyond what racial or socioeconomic disparities can explain. Our presentation concludes with a discussion of how this approach is currently being used to seek additional funding to deploy place-based healthcare interventions.