Hendrickson Development provides location analytical studies

  • needs assessments/site selection studies;
  • network capability and driving band analyses;
  • areas of influence;
  • buffer analyses, and
  • waiting list analyses.

Example of these are contained in the map gallery.

Needs assessments/site selection studies are done by identifying

  •  the state’s regulatory structure affecting the type of service(s) to be provided;
  •  average health insurance statistics and household income in the geographical area;
  •  population density and transportation routes;
  • the locations and utilization capacity of existing providers;
  • the prevalence of mental health issues and substance use abuse in the geographical area, and
  • the estimated number of persons that may use a new program in that geographical area.

Needs assessments are done for four main reasons:

  • To provide investors such as banks or venture capitalists information on the feasibility of the investment;
  • As part of routine due diligence and research on a potential business location;
  • To show the need for a program to local zoning board officials who not inclined to approve drug or alcohol treatment programs, and
  • For use in federal courts during American with Disabilities Act (ADA) litigation.

In the last ten years, Hendrickson Development has done approximately 90 needs assessments/studies of geographic areas: about 45 for potential nursing homes, senior living projects, assisted living residences, dementia care units, and post-acute care centers, and about 45 for mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. These studies often result in utilization estimates of how many individuals will use a program at that location based on distance and use metrics appropriate for the service. For example, distance traveled to assistant living programs is shorter than distance traveled to detoxification programs and different metrics are involved in calculating the use of these services.

Network capability analyses are done by mapping the location of persons enrolled in a program, for example, a managed care organization, and then mapping driving bands e.g. 30 or 60-minute drive bands around providers to determine how many enrolled persons are within a reasonable driving time of providers. A terrain layer showing mountains and other topographical features can be added to the driving band maps to show the way geography structures the driving bands. A sample terrain map with driving bands is included in the mapping gallery.

Area of influence analyses are done to decide if a new program can be fit into an area with existing programs. Given a set of locations e.g. human service offices or branch business offices, area of influence analyses identify the geographical areas that are closest to each location. The demographic characteristics of the persons in the area can then be measured. For example, if a state has nine existing mental health programs, the area of influence of a proposed new program can be compared with the areas of influence of existing programs to see if there is sufficient population demand to support the new program. This is a very useful data-based decision making tool for understanding if a new program can be fit into an area with existing programs. A sample area of influence map is included in the mapping gallery.

A buffer analysis is done be starting with a location and a population size and solving for the area containing that population. For example, if you have a new business appealing to teenagers and wish to know the size of the area around the road that contains 10,000 teenagers, then a buffer analysis would tell you the area. A sample buffer analysis map is included in the mapping gallery.

Waiting list analyses are done by mapping the addresses of persons on the waiting list and performing a “weighted center” analysis to determine the optimal location for providing a new service. Similar techniques can be used to study the impact of building a new program on existing programs by estimating how many currently served persons would shift to the new service location. The addresses of persons coming to a service provider can be mapped and the average distance persons travel can be measured.

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Hendrickson Development also provides: 

A significant amount of census information on any geographical area.  These areas include familiar areas such as census tracts, zip codes, counties, and states, but also include constructed areas. There are three types of constructed areas:

  • We calculate driving bands around a given point e.g. 10, 20 and 30-minute drive-time rings and provide demographic information such as average household income and the number of children or adults in each drive-time ring.
  • We calculate distance from a given point e.g.  5 miles, 25 miles and provide demographic information such as average household income and the number of  children or adults in each distance band.
  • Or, we can provide  demographic information on any irregularly shaped geographical area that you select, for example an area in between two rivers and bounded on one side by a freeway.