SCC-PG: Building a smart and connected rural community for improved healthcare access through the deployment of integrated mobility solutions

已经建立了各种方案，将医疗服务扩展和促进到面临经济障碍的低收入美国农村地区。这些计划提供范围广泛的医疗服务，费用很低，甚至免费。然而，尽管提供了这些服务，但在将患者及时带到医疗保健提供者那里进行医疗保健方面出现了挑战。农村社区的许多人无法获得推荐的服务，主要是由于交通方面的困难。这些挑战反过来又严重影响他们的求医行为，阻碍他们获得及时的医疗保健。病人缺勤不仅延误诊断，而且由于医疗设施和人力资源利用不足，还会导致医疗保健提供者的收入损失。为了解决这些问题，由按需服务推动的正在进行的移动性转型可能会提供负担得起的交通解决方案，以改善医疗保健获得机会，并重塑服务不足社区中的人们的求医行为。该项目的重点是西阿拉巴马州，特别是健康状况较差的黑带地区，以调查预防性求医行为。主要目标是探索按需移动服务对服务不足个人的这些行为的影响。该项目将创建一个由跨学科研究人员、医疗保健提供者、运输提供者和社区利益相关者组成的智能互联农村社区(SCRC)，通过部署按需移动服务在农村社区推广预防性医疗保健。该项目将进行综合研究，目标涵盖技术和社会科学层面：1)技术层面--通过与当地医疗服务提供者和交通服务提供者合作，该项目将开发一个智能健康和移动系统(SHMS)，以利用和协调研究区域内的现有交通资源，为需要往返于医疗机构和患者家中的患者和医生/护士提供按需移动服务；2)社会科学层面--通过社区参与活动(例如，会议、焦点小组和调查)，该项目将探索按需移动服务对未参保或保险不足患者的预防性求医行为的影响。该项目将通过探索流动服务对贫困农村社区寻求护理行为的影响来显著促进知识的发展。这些知识将帮助医疗保健提供者和利益相关者做出明智的决策，以利用新兴的移动服务来提供具有成本效益的医疗服务，并提高贫困农村社区的生活质量。该项目预计将为实施按需移动解决方案奠定基础，以增强这些地区的医疗保健。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Various programs have been established to extend and promote healthcare services to low-income rural Americans facing financial barriers. These programs offer a wide range of healthcare services at little to no cost. However, despite the availability of these services, challenges arise in bringing patients to healthcare providers in a timely manner for healthcare. Many individuals in rural communities are unable to receive recommended services, primarily due to transportation challenges. These challenges, in turn, significantly impact their care-seeking behaviors and hinder their access to timely healthcare. Patient no-shows not only delay diagnoses but also result in lost revenue for healthcare providers due to under-utilization of medical facilities and staff resources. To address these issues, the ongoing mobility transformation fueled by on-demand services may offer affordable transportation solutions to improve healthcare access and reshape care-seeking behaviors among people in under-served communities. This project focuses on West Alabama, specifically the health-disadvantaged Black Belt region, to investigate preventive care-seeking behaviors. The primary objective is to explore the impacts of on-demand mobility services on these behaviors among under-served individuals. This project will create a Smart and Connected Rural Community (SCRC) comprised of interdisciplinary researchers, healthcare providers, transportation providers, and community stakeholders to promote preventive healthcare in rural communities through deploying on-demand mobility services. This project will conduct integrative research with objectives covering both technological and social science dimensions: 1) Technological Dimension – By partnering with local health providers and transportation providers, this project will develop a Smart Health and Mobility System (SHMS) to leverage and coordinate existing transportation resources within the study area to offer on-demand mobility services to patients and doctors/nurses in need of traveling between medical facilities and patient homes; 2) Social Science Dimension – Through community engagement activities (e.g., meetings, focus groups, and surveys), this project will explore the impacts of on-demand mobility services on preventive care-seeking behaviors among uninsured or under-insured patients. This project will significantly advance the knowledge by exploring the impacts of mobility services on care-seeking behaviors in disadvantaged rural communities. The knowledge will aid healthcare providers and stakeholders make informed decisions to leverage emerging mobility services to deliver cost-effective healthcare services and improve quality of life in disadvantaged rural communities. The project is expected to set the groundwork for implementing on-demand mobility solutions to enhance healthcare in these areas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.