RESEARCH LETTER The Impact of a Clinic Move on Vulnerable Patients with Chronic Disease: A Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analysis

Background: Changing locations disrupts the populations served by primary health care clinics, and such changes may differentially affect access to care for vulnerable populations. Methods: Online geographic information systems mapping tools were used to define how the reloca-tion of a family medicine center impacted access to care for black and Hispanic patients with chronic disease. Results: Maps created from practice management data revealed a distinct shift in black and Hispanic patients with chronic disease being served in the new location. Conclusions: Geographic information systems tools are valuable aids in defining changing service areas of primary health care clinics. (J Am Board Fam Med 2010;23:128–130.) Primary health care clinics are bound to the pa-tients they serve by geography, an essential lesson rarely emphasized in preparing resident trainees for community practice.1 Policy makers promote ac-cess to a personal physician for all their constitu-ents, and it is essential that providers understan