Health insurance and its impact on the survival rates of breast cancer patients in Synthea

Abstract

AbstractThe goal of this project was to build policy modules in a synthetic health system to analyze how healthcare policy impacts breast cancer survival rates. To do any inference regarding healthcare policy, researchers need secure and protected health data, which are restricted by privacy laws and interoperability issues. Synthetic health systems generate and help investigate health data without concerns of violating legal restrictions (HIPAA). In this research, we programmed health insurance and loss‐of‐care modules into a synthetic health system simulator (Synthea) to simulate and analyze the impact of health insurance on breast cancer survival rates. Our goal was for our health insurance and loss‐of‐care implementations to be realistic and reflective of the real world, in which we were successful.