Using GIS to Simulate Inpatient’s Behavior and Visualize Healthcare Demand
Abstract
In this study, we developed the Patient Access Area Model by using a Geographic information system (GIS), and, in order
to evaluate the balance of medical supply and demand in the future in small areas, simulated patients' access to hospitals.
We set the accessible area by patients' transit time for each hospital. The patients living in each 500 meters mesh were
allowed to enter hospitals only within the access area. The hospitals have its limit to admit patients based on their actual
numbers of beds. We distributed inpatients from each mesh across hospitals. For the evaluation of demand, if patients could not be distributed to the hospitals within the accessible area, we defined the situation as “over-demand.” As a result,
although it was expected that over 9000 inpatients will not receive inpatient care in a southwest area region in the studied
prefecture, most of the over-demand is in the densely regions along large traffic lines in 2030. Using this model, we can
know demand for local health resources more clearly. This method is very useful to plan geographical resource allocation in medical services.