Overview
In 2014, we were awarded an R01 from the National Institute on Aging to evaluate CommunityRx using a complex systems approach to program evaluation that incorporates agent-based modeling.
CommunityRx addresses health care providers’ need to efficiently connect patients to community-based resources for wellness, disease self-management and caregiving. Unmet social needs affect not only primary care, but also specialty care. In Dr. Lindau’s practice caring for women with cancer, for example, many patients commonly need community-based resources like physical therapy, wigs and prosthetics, cancer support groups, and even rent and food support to manage the work and costs of their treatment and recovery. In our tertiary care children’s hospital, where patients are being treated with complex and costly illnesses like cancer, sickle cell disease, and even HIV, 40% of children are discharged to food insecure homes. The CommunityRx system enables efficient connectivity to these important health-related needs and generates data to evaluate geospatial and other gaps in critical resources.
Our Research:
Makelarski JA, Lindau ST, Fabbre VD, Grogan CM, Sadhu EM, Silverstein JC, Tran TT, Van Haitsma M, Whitaker E, & Johnson D. Are Your Asset Data as Good as You Think? Conducting a Comprehensive Census of Built Assets to Improve Urban Population Health. Journal of Urban Health. August 2013; 90(4):586-601. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22983720
Lindau ST, Makelarski JA, Chin MH, Desautels S, Johnson D, Johnson WE, Miller D, Peters S, Robinson C, Schneider J, Thicklin F, Watson NP, Wolfe M, Whitaker E. Building Community-Engaged Health Research and Discovery Infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago: Science in Service to Community Priorities. Preventive Medicine. March-April 2011; 52(3-4):200-207. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21236295
CommunityRx mentions:
Accountable Health Communities—Addressing Social Needs through Medicare and Medicaid. Perspective by Dawn E. Alley, PhD, Chisara N. Asomugha, MD, Patrick H. Conway, MD, and Darshak M. Sanghavi, MD. New England Journal of Medicine. 2016; 374:8-11. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1512532
A New Conceptual Framework for Academic Health Centers. William B. Borden, MD, Alvin I. Mushlin,MD, SCM, et al. Academic Medicine. 2015; 90:569-573. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25785679
Clinic–Community Linkages for High-Value Care. Perspective by Thomas D. Sequist, MD, MPH, and Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH. New England Journal of Medicine. 2014; 371:2148-2150. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1408457
Engineering Solutions to Injustice 