Using Technology to Build a Grassroots Approach to A Community Needs Assessment Tim Mullett, MD Joan Scales, LCSW University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky None Financial Disclosure Learning Objectives Participants will gain an understanding of scalable, cancer-focused patient-centered Community Needs Assessment (CNA) Participants will understand this method of discovering barriers and disparities in specific at-risk cancer populations Participants should understand how to develop a continuous process improvement to enhance the CNA
The Typical CNA Only performed triennially All look the same Medicaid template Regional/State Population statistics may not be representative of your cancer population No new information The Elusive Targeted Community Needs Assessment Our goal was to develop a targeted CNA Cancer patient focused Patient-centered Align needs with resources available Allow identified barriers/disparities to guide program/resource development Ideal Community Needs Assessment Collect data from patients/caregivers/providers Different perspectives Scalable for different populations (hospital-wide, inpatient, outpatient, ICU, etc.) Easily examine a segment of the cancer population A clinic A disease site Race/Gender/Socioeconomic Factors Phase of care (Diagnosis, Treatment, Survivorship, etc.) Collect on a continuous basis Identify trends Easily prepared for triennial CoC Survey Doesn t distract from daily workflow of patients/caregivers/providers
Survey Origin Qualtrics Demographics, assess participants awareness of personal barriers and awareness of resources in UK and outside Administered via tablet to patients, caregivers and providers (Nurses, Physicians, Technicians, Social Workers) During registration/waiting room down No special training/qualification required Posted link to Markey Cancer Center website Posted link to UK Healthcare homepage E-mail contact with providers Intake Patient Survey Demographics Potential barrier questions Knowledge of resources available to patients Description of factors impacting their care Questions regarding support groups Also delivered to caregivers Provider Survey Demographics Provider perception of patient barriers Provers perceptions of internal barriers Results Received information from patients first hand not outside entity gathering general information Had 455 patient/caregiver participants 77 health care providers
Qualtrics Survey Qualtrics Survey Qualtrics Data
Summary Demographic Markey Cancer Center CNA 69% female; 30% male 61% married Largest group of respondents were between the ages of 45 74 53% income <$2000/mo 199%FPL Education Less than high school 9.1% 41 High school graduate 29.8% 134 Some college 19.6% 88 College graduate 26.1% 41 Professional & Doctorate 15.4% 49 Total 100% 449 Survey Results Patients/Caregivers 12% of patients did not perceive transportation as a concern 54% of respondents reported finances were NOT a concern 25% of respondents report having met with OSW 65% of respondents reported having not met with MCC support services or were not aware services were available Providers 71% of providers perceived transportation as concern 85% of providers perceived finances as a concern 79% of providers report they refer patients to OSW 50% of providers were confident their patients followed up with their referrals Survey Results Patient barriers Travel distance Finances Taking time off from work Transportation Provider barriers Time Patient appt compliance Lack of communication Adequate staffing
Future Direction Inpatient Outpatient Clinic environment Evolution of questions More specific Financial determinant Continuous data collection Disseminate information for resource allocation Summary Versatile platform to gather specific information from the cancer population and providers Can be used to illustrate barriers to leadership and align resources Will be important to compare this data with the generic population data, to be certain that we are eliminating barriers for the population we can serve, but are not yet patients/caregivers