Analysis of big patient mobility data for identifying medical regions, spatio-temporal characteristics and care demands of patients on the move

Koylu C., Delil S., Guo D., Çelik R. N.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH GEOGRAPHICS, cilt.17, 2018 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 17
  • Basım Tarihi: 2018
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1186/s12942-018-0152-x
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH GEOGRAPHICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Background: Patient mobility can be defined as a patient's movement or utilization of a health care service located in a place or region other than the patient's place of residence. Mobility provides freedom to patients to obtain health care from providers across regions and even countries. It is essential to monitor patient choices in order to maintain the quality standards and responsiveness of the health system, otherwise, the health system may suffer from geographic disparities in the accessibility to quality and responsive health care. In this article, we study patient mobility in a national health care system to identify medical regions, spatio-temporal and service characteristics of health care utilization, and demands for patient mobility.