Planning for health care: A New Orleans, Louisiana case of spatial data and methods to increase accessibility and accountability in the renal care industry

One of the oldest problems of civilization is confecting strategies and techniques to get the right resources in the right place. Ideally, the health care delivery system would attempt to provide the (a) right caregivers with the (b) right tools at the (c) right time in the (d) right place. This is not always the case when a large percentage of the patient population is poorer minorities.; The purpose of this research is to improve upon current site selection strategies for increased access to health care. Specifically, I focus on population subgroups receiving renal care and how GIS and demographic indicators of disease can be used by health care planners. While this technique will not eliminate the disparity of the disease across racial lines, it will promote access and quality of care by identifying underserved, high needs areas.