Abstract
An aging population has significant, dynamic and complex healthcare needs. Meeting such needs in a sustainable manner requires the capability to prioritize and project multiple relevant criteria (e.g., dynamic population health, treatment preferences, resources, technological changes and location of facilities). Most current decision-making processes for urban hospital site selection rely on a combination of experience and statistical data, yet they lack robustness and trending capabilities. This leads to tremendous efficiency implications, as it is not uncommon for hospitals to have a lifespan of more than 100 years after they are built. Our research team has developed an evidence-based decision-support system, enhanced with a Geographic Information System (GIS), that has the potential to overcome these limitations. This paper presents a feasibility demonstration of our framework through a retrospective case study of hospital site selection in Dallas, Texas, demonstrating its positive value in providing a foundation for informed healthcare resource allocation in the context of an aging population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2730-2744 |
| Journal | Sustainability (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Online published | 6 Mar 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Research Keywords
- Aging population
- Decision framework
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Healthcare sustainability
- Hospital site selection
- Senior health
Publisher's Copyright Statement
- This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/