The Effect of a Patient’s Living Environment on their Health
Every year, millions of people are negatively affected by their living environment. For example:
More than 100,000 people die each year in the United States from illnesses related to air pollution
Recent studies attribute over 400,000 deaths a year to lead poisoning complications in the United States and there are still many of children who test positive for elevated levels of lead in their blood each year.
Living in a food desert is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in those with coronary artery disease.
As a result, we want to develop a tool that can alert medical professionals to these environmental issues before they cause serious health complications in a patient. Our tool, TAG Health, aims to show give providers a snapshot of possible issues surrounding a patient’s home environment at time of care. Once these problems are discussed with the patient, then TAG Health can link providers to resources and community organizations that the patient can use.
Why Use TAG Health?
Our proprietary algorithm searches databases to examine not just population health trends, but also data on specific addresses. Compared to other methods of patient environment data retrieval, TAG Health is fast and specific to a patient’s personal living environment.
TAG Health is aimed at hospitals and medical practices that currently use Electronic Health Records. By integrating into these EHRs, TAG Health will be at a medical professional’s fingertips at time of care.
