Spatial cluster modeling of access of elderly patients with hearing loss to medical services

The availability and quality of medical care is ensured by the organization of medical care according to the principle of proximity to the place of residence. The increase in the number of medical institutions will definitely increase the availability of medical care, but it will also increase the cost of providing it, thus reducing the overall efficiency of the health care system. The article discusses the solution to the problem of optimizing the provision of audiological care to elderly patients with hearing impairment and deafness by finding the optimal number of medical institutions providing this assistance and their geographical location within the Chelyabinsk region. The problem was solved on the basis of minimizing the distance and time spent by patients to travel to the place of medical care, using spatial cluster analysis. The possibilities of spatial clustering to create reasonable prerequisites for the optimal solution of the problems of increasing the availability of medical infrastructure for the population are demonstrated.