About – UDS Mapper

Project Background

It is essential that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), and health center organizations have access to tools and data that can assist in evaluating the geographic reach, penetration, and growth of the Section 330-funded Health Center Program (HCP) and its relationship to other federally-linked health resources. As such, HRSA, John Snow, Inc. and the American Academy of Family Physicians have collaborated to develop a mapping and decision-support tool driven primarily from data within the Uniform Data System (UDS), previously not publicly accessible at the local level.

The UDS Mapper is designed to help inform users about the current geographic extent of U.S. federal (Section 330) Health Center Program (HCP) awardees and look-alikes, and was largely designed upon algorithms and reporting methods developed by John Snow, Inc. for BPHC-requested service area analyses. The information available in the UDS Mapper includes estimates of the collective service area of these health centers by ZCTA, including the ratio of HCP awardee and look-alike patients reported in the Uniform Data System (UDS) to the target population, the change in the number of those reported patients over time, and an estimate of those in the target population that remain unserved by HCP awardees and look-alikes reporting data to the UDS (but may be served by other providers). Due to data limitations, this tool is meant to be only one of many important resources available for exploring the extent of health centers. To inform additional exploration, users can also map U.S. Census data and see the locations of all HCP awardees and look-alikes and their service delivery sites, locations of other federally-linked providers (NHSC Sites, Rural Health Clinics, Tribal Organization Facilities, etc.), and shortage areas such as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/Ps).

Targeted Users

HRSA project officers
Primary Care Associations and State Primary Care Offices
Health Center Program awardees and look-alikes
Prospective Health Center Program awardees and look-alikes
Other policy makers and planners (state and local)
Staff from other types of health centers

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is the national association of family doctors. It is one of the largest national medical organizations, with more than 136,000 members in 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. The Academy was founded in 1947 to promote and maintain high quality standards for family doctors who are providing continuing comprehensive health care to the public.

AAFP.org

HealthLandscape develops, administers, and markets geospatial analysis software tools and professional services. HealthLandscape is the division of the AAFP responsible for the successful development of the HealthLandscape mapping platform. The group has extensive experience in GIS applications relating to health centers, primary care, and the health care workforce and works closely on all projects as a team.

HealthLandscape.org

The Robert Graham Center aims to improve individual and population health care delivery through the generation or synthesis of evidence that brings a family medicine and primary care perspective to health policy deliberations from the local to international levels. The Robert Graham Center staff is made up of a group of clinician researchers as well as a variety of social scientists from sociologists to geographers to economists.

Graham-Center.org

Health Resources and Services Administration

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA programs help those in need of high quality primary health care, people with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women, and mothers. HRSA also supports the training of health professionals, distribution of providers to where they are needed most, and improvements in health care delivery.

HRSA.gov

Bureau of Primary Health Care

The Bureau of Primary Health Care oversees the Health Center Program, a national network of health centers that provide comprehensive primary health care services regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, charging for services on a sliding fee scale. In 2019, HRSA-funded health centers served more than 29 million people (approximately 1 in 11 Americans) in nearly 1,400 health centers at over 12,000 sites across the United States. The UDS Mapper contract (HHSH250201800033G) is managed by BPHC.

BPHC.HRSA.gov

Blue Raster

Blue Raster LLC is a GIS application development group skilled in rapid application development. They have more than 20 years of experience in every aspect of GIS mapping using partner solutions and web and database technologies, and developed the HealthLandscape prototype together with the investigators. The Blue Raster staff includes advanced application architects, RIA developers, and GIS analysts.

Blue Raster.com

JSI

John Snow, Inc. (JSI) is a public health research and consulting firm dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. JSI staff directs the nation-wide Uniform Data Systems (UDS) data collection and reporting projects for the BPHC Health Center Program. JSI also prepares the ZCTA-level UDS data for the UDS Mapper. JSI’s approach to mapping UDS data provided the foundation of the UDS Mapper.

JSI.com