BUSSW’s Institute for Equity in Child Opportunity & Healthy Development Helps Dayton Children’s Hospital Enhance Clinical Decision Making
Children living in lower-opportunity neighborhoods are more likely to return to the emergency department or be readmitted soon after hospital discharge, a disparity that the Institute for Equity in Child Opportunity & Healthy Development (IECOHD) at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) is helping health systems address.
Dayton Children’s Hospital is using IECOHD’s Child Opportunity Index to strengthen clinical decision-making and advance health equity.
An impact story from diversitydatakids.org, a project of IECOHD, details how the hospital has integrated the index into its data systems to better understand patients’ neighborhood contexts, an important social determinant of health. Research using the index has shown that children living in lower-opportunity neighborhoods are more likely to return to the emergency department or be readmitted soon after discharge.
By incorporating a child’s neighborhood score into a predictive readmission model, Dayton Children’s Hospital can identify patients at higher risk and provide more personalized discharge planning and follow-up care, including early connections to resources aimed at preventing avoidable return visits.
This article, Enhancing Clinical Decision-Making at Dayton Children’s Hospital, highlights how the institute’s Child Opportunity Index is being used beyond research and as a practical tool to help health systems respond to inequities and improve outcomes for children and families.
Learn more about the Institute for Equity in Child Opportunity & Healthy Development