{"id":555542,"date":"2025-01-08T19:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T19:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uat.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&p=555542"},"modified":"2025-01-09T21:30:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T21:30:52","slug":"using-gis-to-elevate-clinic-quality-and-improve-care-for-als-mnd-patients","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/using-gis-to-elevate-clinic-quality-and-improve-care-for-als-mnd-patients","title":{"rendered":"Using GIS to Elevate Clinic Quality and Improve Care for ALS \/MND Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quality Improvement: A Crucial Focus for ALS Clinics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Quality improvement (QI) in healthcare ensures that clinics consistently deliver better patient care, identify gaps, and implement actionable solutions. For ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) clinics, QI is particularly important. Also known as Motor Neuron Disease (MND), this progressive condition is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of muscle control and thereby affecting one\u2019s ability to move, eat, speak, and breathe. And for some, ALS \/ MND can impact mental acuity as well. Clinics caring for people with this disease must be multi-disciplinary and include a neurologist, respiratory, occupational and physical therapists, dietitian, mental health services, and a care manager to coordinate the team. With no known cure, timely access to high-quality care can profoundly impact the quality of life for patients and their families.<\/p>\n\n

GIS (Geographic Information System) has emerged as a helpful and easy-to-configure tool in advancing QI efforts for ALS \/ MND care. The ALS Clinic Advisor was developed by GeoALS<\/a>, a nonprofit organization that uses GIS for care, research, and advocacy. With input from people living with ALS \/ MND, caregivers, and advocates, the ALS Clinic Advisor provides critical insights into clinic performance, accessibility, and opportunities for improvement. This blog explores how GIS tools like Survey123<\/em>, ArcGIS Dashboards<\/em>, and ArcGIS Hub<\/em> are empowering patients, caregivers, and healthcare organizations in support of optimal clinical care.<\/p>\n\n

Mapping Insights: Where Care Exists, Where It Is Needed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Location matters when it comes to healthcare. The ALS Clinic Advisor leverages GIS to map clinics, highlighting where care is available and identifying underserved areas. This effort went global two years ago in collaboration with the International Alliance. See ALS \/ MND clinics world wide on the International Alliance website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

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The map on the left shows 216 ALS clinics in the United States (as of 12\/17\/2024). It includes ALS Association-certified centers and clinics, Muscular Dystrophy Association certified MDA\/ALS Care Centers, and patient-reported clinics. The number does not include VA clinics, neurology group practices, and solo practitioners that provide care to the ALS community. The map on the right uses the data from the U.S. ALS clinics map and calculates a 90-minute drive time boundary around each clinic. Nearby major cities are visualized as purple dots on the map. As a result, gaps in access to ALS care become clear. \u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

This spatial approach also allows ALS patients and caregivers to locate clinics easily and make informed decisions about their care journey.<\/p>\n\n

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Users of the ALS Clinic Advisor Locator can search for clinics by name or proximity to an entered address. Pertinent information is displayed such as the clinic location and contact information, the medical director and image, and a website link for further exploration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Despite massive efforts to include all ALS \/ MND clinics, things are always changing and it\u2019s possible that some clinics providing specialty care recently opened or are simply missing from the database. For that reason, GIS tools make adding a clinic easy for anyone who wishes to do so. Learn more about locating and adding clinics in this short video [youtu.be]<\/a>. Understanding where clinics are available is critical, but this alone is not enough\u2014understanding patient experiences at these clinics is vital to drive meaningful quality improvements.<\/p>\n\n

Survey123: Collecting Patient Experience to Improve Care<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

At the heart of the ALS Clinic Advisor is the clinic survey, designed to capture the real experiences of ALS patients and caregivers. Built using ArcGIS Survey123<\/em>, the survey focuses on seven critical areas of clinic performance:<\/p>\n\n