GIS and Social Marketing at The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Joan N.Gardner (Applied Geographics)

Jodi Duckhorn (CMS)This project is funded by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Interactive Web Site for The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Joan N. Gardner, President, Applied Geographics, Inc. Jodi M. Duckhorn, Social Science Research Analyst, U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (formerly HCFA) Center for Beneficiary Choices Beneficiary Education and Analysis Group Division of Beneficiary Analysis

ESRI Health Conference, Washington DC November 2001

Application for Census Data

Phase I Social Marketing

Phase 2 Map atlas Interactive web site

Context for Social Marketing at The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Balanced Budget Act mandated that CMS become more beneficiary friendly

CMS has refocused to become more consumer-oriented Discover and respond to beneficiary wants and needs Help beneficiaries understand their benefits and CMS programs Social marketing applies commercial marketing concepts to

health and human services programs designed to influence behavior of target audiences in order to improve personal and societal welfare

CMS has adopted a social marketing strategy to better understand and communicate with their beneficiaries

Integrating GIS and Social Marketing at CMS

CMS’s Center for Beneficiary Choices (CBC) is integrating GIS into an already well developed social marketing initiative to better understand beneficiaries

The Project’s Objectives: To better identify, segment and target HCFA beneficiaries so that CMS’s messages will be more relevant, focused and more well received by our beneficiaries

Roles:– Identify relevant data sources for specific mapping requests– Develop map templates– Map data, by county, to segment beneficiary population

Programs Administered by CMS

CMS administers Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

Medicare provides health insurance for people age 65 and over, those with permanent kidney failure and certain people with disabilities Approximately 39 million individuals (HCFA, 1998)

Medicaid is a jointly funded, Federal-State health insurance program for certain low-income and needy people Approximately 36 million individuals (HCFA, 1998)

SCHIP provides low cost or free health insurance for low income children who do not qualify for Medicaid

Mapping CMS Beneficiary Populations, beginning with Medicare

CBC plans to use GIS to look at all 3 beneficiary populations (Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP)

This project began with the Medicare beneficiary population According to 1996 CMS data:

83% of beneficiaries are white, 9% are African American, 6% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and Pacific Islanders, 0.4% are American Indian or Alaskan Natives

But how are these people distributed geographically? CMS can use GIS to answer this question This information allows CMS to target certain areas of the US with

culturally appropriate consumer information

GIS Supports a Closer Look

A major premise of social marketing is to tailor the message to different audience segments

GIS specifically supports these analyses for CMS by: integrating data from disparate sources analyzing and displaying data at local levels of geography defining and targeting segments of Medicare eligibles and

beneficiaries

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #1: Medicare Beneficiary Population

CMS used this map to show the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education a baseline picture depicting where the Medicare beneficiaries reside by county and state.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #2: African American Population

Medicare covers annual screening mammograms for eligible women.

Since it is less likely that African American and Hispanic women will seek screening, CMS has targeted the over 65 age group of African American and Hispanic communities for outreach and education about this benefit. The outreach focused on one or both minority groups.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #3: American Indian Population

CMS is working with American Indian and Alaskan Native populations to explain what Medicare services are available.

CMS can use maps to locate areas with high concentrations of American Indians and Alaskan Natives in order to reach beneficiaries and their providers who offer services and Medicare information to this population.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #4: Asian and Pacific Islander Population

In many Asian cultures it is perceived that older individuals live with their children or other relatives when they can no longer live on their own. In addition, Asians are less likely to travel outside of their communities for health care as their communities are important and tightly knit (Spector, 1996).

CMS can target elderly Asians to help them better understand the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) program, an optional Medicare benefit that allows elderly people to stay in their homes and communities and still receive intensive medical, social and rehabilitative services.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #5: Hispanic Population

Diabetes is a serious health concern for some minority populations due to an increased prevalence of this disease in several minority populations.

CMS can target specific minority communities with brochures explaining Medicare coverage for diabetes printed in not only English by in other languages such as Spanish as well.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #6: Beneficiaries Living in Rural America

Approximately 1 in 4 Medicare beneficiaries live in rural America. These rural beneficiaries have lower in come levels and much less access to technology compared to other Medicare beneficiaries.

CMS can target rural communities with easy to read information specifically written to help rural beneficiaries understand their Medicare benefits.

Sample Social Marketing and GIS #7: Beneficiaries Enrolled HMOs

CMS can use maps to locate enrollment trends and areas where disenrollment from Medicare managed care plans is most prevalent.

Current Uses of GIS for CMS Social Marketing

Share maps and supporting data and documentation with CMS projects and regions and internal central office staff

Use maps to prioritize and determine specific segments of CMS beneficiaries to target

Integrate data used to produce maps with other information, such as utilization of services, for analysis and decision making

Data Challenges

Data Access CMS requires signed data and computer use agreements to

protect data confidentiality and individual beneficiary privacy. The requirements are strict and must be met.

CMS’s data query system is on a mainframe and requires training and time to extract data

Data Quality Public CMS data are not always available at low levels of

geography

Data Challenges (Con’t)

Data Management CMS collects billions of claim records, with varying file

formats CMS manages vast quantities of health utilization data

which require aggregation to support social marketing

Data Analysis Audience will determine the importance of data currency Beneficiary characteristics database should be developed

more extensively

Second Phase of the Project

Jodi Duckhorn, CMS, Project Leader Peter Girard, AGI Director of Software Architecture Vicky Tam, AGI Senior GIS Analyst

Web atlas Interactive web site, compliant with ADA

Census 2000 Data

The following maps were created at AGI for this presentation Show what can be done using the 2000 data

new data comparison with 1990 data

Interactive Web Site

Uses SVG(scalable vector graphics) viewer which is a plug-inFree download from AdobeUses 2.5 mg bytesPan and zoom capabilitySave as a file

SVG Viewer

Created a script which loops through all the statesCreates a projection for each stateCreates SVG coordinates for all countiesPulled into a database

SVG Viewer

AdvantagesNeeds no map serverLess to maintainOne Access databaseMore possibilities for ADA requirements

SVG information

http:/www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html Version 3.0 should be ready soon and will have a smaller

download

Other Health Projects

Silent Spring Institute-Breast Cancer Research Bureau of Transportation Statistics-Welfare to Work

www/bts.gov/state/visit.html

MA DPH-Geocoding Cancer Registry 1987-present Geocoding Vital Statistics

HRSA-Blanket contract for HIV/Aids Maternal Infant Health Care Rural Poor

Thank You

Joan N. Gardner Jodi M. Duckhorn

jng@appgeo.com Jduckhorn@cms.hhs.gov

617 292-7125 410-786-1820