Pharmacutical Availability


Pharmacutical Availability

CONTACT PERSONS


Michael Seidel-mfseidel@wisc.edu, Matthew Swee-maswee@wisc.edu, Andrew Curtiss-ascurtiss@wisc.edu, Jacob Wiatrowski-jjwiatrowski@wisc.edu


OBJECTIVE


Determine the extent of MSM’s coverage and evaluate possible areas for expansion based on demographics.

DESCRIPTION


Background


Our client is looking to expand it’s coverage by creating a spatial and graphical GIS database to determine where services can best be used. This includes the location of customers and creating a proposal for new pharmacy locations. This is especially necessary near high density customer populations where coverage of pharmacy operation must be substantially denser.


The data available include customer records in tabular form, as well as TIGER files from the US census. Data on insurance coverage will be obtained through a representative of our client, nearly all this data is preexisting and unrefined. FDA approved pharmacy locations will also be provided, as well as which pharmacies accept which insurance. Census data and base maps will be obtained either from the US census or from the ESRI data accompanying their software. The GIS implementation on the data will be done either in ArcGIS or ArcView GIS, the existing census data is readily available in these formats and tabular data for pharmacies is easily added with this software.


Key Concepts and Elements: 1- Coverage of pharmacies 2- Insurance customer population centers 3- Customer age and proximity to current locations 4- Cost of building a new pharmacy 5- Locations in need of new sites


Data Layers needed: 1- US base map 2- Insurance company customer locations 3- Current pharmacy locations which accept this insurance 4- Census data, demographics


Study Area


Our study area will be focused on the Mid-Atlantic region, specifically the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and the District of Columbia. Every county within these regions will be used for analysis; the data is at county level resolution and is appropriate for this task.

Proposed Tasks


The insurance company has 17 million customers nation wide. We are proposing to: determine the amount of customers within each state, as well as the providers in each state. Also we will identify gaps in provider coverage where expansion is necessary. These gaps will be at the county level.