Coordinating Social Care and Healthcare using Semantic Web Technologies

Healthcare and Social Care are unique domains in terms of cultural importance, economic magnitude and complexity. On a cultural level, the level of advancement of a society is often measured in terms of protection of the less able. In economic terms, for 2009, total expenditure on healthcare in the United States was 2.6 trillion USD or 17.4% of the GDP1. Total expenditure on social care was 2.98 trillion USD or 19.90% of the GDP2. In terms of US Federal government expenditure, social security, medicare and medicaid amount to 45% of total spending. In terms of complexity, organizations that are involved in providing social and medical care are numerous and span a very wide domain. For example, AHIP, the trade association of health insurers numbers some 1300 members3; the number of hospitals registered with the American Hospital Association is 57244 and the number of homeless shelters surpasses 40005. In addition, medical information is vastly complex: Nuance reports that LinkBase R ©6 contains more than 1 million concepts. Social care depends on information from a very broad domain, ranging from criminal records to housing. Coordinating social care and health care has been identified both as a major pain point and a significant opportunity in modern health and social systems [1]. Several studies have shown that costs can be contained and outcomes improved with a more holistic approach to care [2]. As a simple motivating example, consider an individual quartered in inappropriate housing while suffering from a relatively minor health issue, aggravated by the housing condition. As a result, the given individual frequently resorts to visiting emergency rooms, resulting in significant cost to the healthcare system and a less effective treatment. By itself, the housing situation does not warrant state intervention. Nevertheless, resolving it would dramatically improve the health situation, resulting in a better quality-of-life for the individual and lower costs for the health system.