title: A business planning model to identify new safety net clinic locations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Community health clinics serving the poor and underserved are geographically expanding due to changes in U.S. health care policy. This paper describes the experience of a collaborative alliance of health care providers in a large metropolitan area who develop a conceptual and mathematical decision model to guide decisions on expanding its network of community health clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community stakeholders participated in a collaborative process that defined constructs they deemed important in guiding decisions on the location of community health clinics. This collaboration also defined key variables within each construct. Scores for variables within each construct were then totaled and weighted into a community-specific optimal space planning equation. This analysis relied entirely on secondary data available from published sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The model built from this collaboration revolved around the constructs of demand, sustainability, and competition. It used publicly available data defining variables within each construct to arrive at an optimal location that maximized demand and sustainability and minimized competition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is a model that safety net clinic planners and community stakeholders can use to analyze demographic and utilization data to optimize capacity expansion to serve uninsured and Medicaid populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Communities can use this innovative model to develop a locally relevant clinic location-planning framework.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Langabeer
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Helton
authors.forename: Jami
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DelliFraine
authors.forename: Ebbin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dotson
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Love
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004465:Economic Competition; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D064876:Safety-net Providers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States