Feasibility Study on an Evidence-Based Decision-Support System for Hospital Site Selection for an Aging Population

Jung In Kim, Devini Manouri Senaratna, Jacobo Ruza, Calvin Kam and Sandy Ng
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Jung In Kim: Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Devini Manouri Senaratna: Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Jacobo Ruza: Sustainable Design and Project Management Programs, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94305, USA
Calvin Kam: Center for Integrated Facility Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Sandy Ng: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L3N6, Canada

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-15

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.

Keywords: aging population; senior health; healthcare sustainability; Geographic Information System (GIS); hospital site selection; decision framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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