Data mining for decision support: An application in public health care

Abstract

We propose a selection of knowledge technologies to support decisions of the management of public health care in Slovenia, and present a specific application in one region (Celje). First, we exploit data mining and statistical techniques to analyse databases that are regularly collected for the national Institute of Public Health. Next, we study organizational aspects of public health resources in the Celje region with the objective to identify the areas that are atypical in terms of availability and accessibility of the public health services for the population. The most important step is the detection of outliers and the analysis of the causes for availability and accessibility deviations. The results can be used for high-level health-care planning and decision-making. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.