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Health and GIS

Health and GIS. The Municipal Opportunity. Hugh Williams 416-738-9583 hwilliams@skeinc.com. Intro to SKE Inc. URISA sustaining member. Ontario govt. Vendor of Record 14 years of growth and leadership in GIS implementation. Key directions:

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Health and GIS

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  1. Health and GIS The Municipal Opportunity Hugh Williams416-738-9583hwilliams@skeinc.com

  2. Intro to SKE Inc. • URISA sustaining member. • Ontario govt. Vendor of Record • 14 years of growth and leadership in GIS implementation. • Key directions: A) “Ontario GeoPortal” and related business applications: B) Provide hosted “spatial cloud computing” (SC2) solutions. C) Custom application development. • Partner with iHealthSolutions for health sector GIS requirements and applications.

  3. Theories How Swine Flu is Being Transmitted…

  4. Presentation Discussion: • Public health has many key programs that GIS can support. • Public health recognizes need for GIS – but many challenges exist. • Opportunities for municipalities to leverage / support public health. • New technologies / solutions available to make it easier – such as spatial cloud computing.

  5. Health Delivery in Ontario (101) • Public Health Units (36) • Deliver programs to keep people healthy (healthy babies, tobacco, rabies, immunization, drinking water, STD/AIDS education, oral hygiene, many more) • Have a municipal footprint. • Co-funded through municipalities and Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. • LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) (14) • Plan and fund health care system delivery – hospitals, CCACs, health care providers. • Footprint does not follow municipal boundaries.

  6. GIS Can Support.. • Population health and analysis. (at risk, status, behaviours). • Disease monitoring / tracking / remediation: e.g. West Nile Virus. • Service delivery improvement: e.g. inspection routes and territory assignment. • Healthcare access. • Information management: e.g. timely access to information.

  7. GIS Capacity in Public Health • Varies ! • From little capacity to dedicated GIS. • Leads to non-standard approaches; “haves” and “have nots”. • IT often not a spending priority when viewed against health program delivery. • GIS not core business – although well understood in epidemiology • GIS Interest Group through APHEO (Assoc Public Health Epidemiologists of Ontario). • PHAC (Public Health Agency Canada) support. • Municipal partnerships enabling capability.

  8. GIS Usage in Public Health(stats from 2008 survey – 22 health units, mostly Epi’s) • 82% ESRI software. • 41% some training in GIS or spatial analysis.; 82% have knowledge of GIS applications; 1/3 of respondents good at GIS. • Most commonly used for a) exploring data, b) geocoding, c) buffer analysis. Other: cluster analysis; grid analysis; network analysis; • Project use includes: vector borne surveillance e.g. West Nile (79%); cluster analysis, distance to hospital, ward profiles, population health maps. • Over 70% feel standards lacking and needed.

  9. Health GIS Challenges • Data / Information • Access • Integration • Sharing / publishing. • Privacy • Core functionality – e.g. geocoding • Cost – architecture and implementation. • Capacity – training and dedication. • Corporate support

  10. Municipal Opportunity • Comments from Leeds, Grenville, Lanark Health Unit: • good relationship with municipality’s GIS coordinator and technician • Can’t “concentrate anywhere near as much on GIS as I would like and we can’t afford a dedicated GIS technician”. • Potential for cost savings by sharing GIS resources • Envision a GIS web portal (enabling sharing) maintained by an external provider. • Data privacy a concern, but ways to overcome this.

  11. Municipal Opportunity • Several examples of municipal GIS support of public health: Waterloo; York; Sault Ste. Marie/Algoma; many others… • How is your municipal GIS supporting the health unit’s role in health promotion and healthy communities? • New technology services-based solution: Spatial Cloud Computing

  12. Spatial Cloud Computing (SC2) • SC2 provides information integration, publishing and access through a geographic interface. • Service-based model that requires little or no additional technology infrastructure / data / capacity. • Privacy concerns addressed – health data don’t leave the health unit. • Municipal GIS data and analysis capability + SC2 would quickly provide a complete solution. • SKE Inc. implementing SC2 through multi-award winning GeoPortal application.

  13. Thank you. Hugh Williams SKE Inc. hwilliams@skeinc.com 416-738-9583

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