Data Humanity Lab uncovers socioeconomic data to accelerate health equity

Photo: Busà Photography/Getty Images 

From the COVID-19 pandemic, health equity has emerged as an issue that needs to be addressed alongside clinical care.

Accelerating health equity is the Data Humanity Lab, a research project that has mapped socio-economic data down to zip codes and individual streets for all of New York State – and in Manhattan, to the floor-by-floor level of apartment buildings.

The Data Humanity Lab brought together the RWJ Foundation, which sponsored the grant, Utica University in upstate New York, which spearheaded the research headed by Michael McCarthy, PhD, assistant professor of Data Science, and revenue cycle management company FinThrive, which provided spatial analysis.

Researchers used 130 economic variables for the 1.3 million neighborhoods in the state of New York, according to Brian Urban, now head of Payer Marketing at FinThrive. In 2021, Urban was doing graduate research for Utica University.
 
The RWJ Foundation's Health Data for Action program funded the research with the data expected to be made available to certain research institutions, said Kathy Hempstead, senior policy advisor at RWJ. 

WHY THIS MATTERS

The study was to highlight economic instabilities at the neighborhood level, Urban said. 

The findings aren't new, but the methodology used was novel. It looked at economic instability rather than healthcare instability, he said. 

In New York State, out of 130 variables, the researchers found that the top three that determine economic instability are being Black, Hispanic or having a single parent construct in the home. Having one of more of these variables increases the likelihood of staying within generational poverty, Urban said.

This remained true despite differences between rural, urban and suburban populations. Outside of New York City, upstate New York can be quite rural amid larger cities such as Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.

The approach used by Utica University researchers can be replicated across geographies to see where services need to be deployed, Urban said.

"If you get this data into the hands of people who face individuals, they'll be able to be more prepared for the needs that need to be addressed alongside or even before, clinical stuff," Urban said.

The socio-economic information can help physicians know any social determinants of health issues facing their patients.

"I hope this can change policy to have a longitudinal health record," Urban said, "to know what's happening outside the doctor's office."

The Utica University research team is expanding its analysis to include North Carolina, Arizona, California, Virginia and Texas. Results from these studies will be forthcoming later this year from FinThrive and Utica University.

FinThrive will be at Booth 3670 at the HIMSS23 Global Conference in Chicago, starting Tuesday, April 18.