What is Capitation

Business analytics (BA), often termed business intelligence (BI), applications can carefully provide insight into the (in)significance of these factors in healthcare system’s ability to treat AIDS/HIV, in general. In particular, demographic variables that relate to cultural, socioeconomic status and community dimensions of those most impacted (namely Black Americans in the United States which is the focus of this writing) by the AIDS/HIV epidemic are often disregarded. For the broader community, the questions to address are diverse. What can business analytics inform us about Black Americans infected by AIDS/HIV? What are the broader cultural issues that are not often modeled by analytical tools? How do these findings stand to impact public policy and how the healthcare community can better assist those living with the disease? In this chapter, I take on these questions by first reviewing major issues and trends in AIDS/HIV and IT literatures by focusing on health disparities in one historically underserved group, namely Black Americans. Next, I present public health conceptual framework that augments this discourse by depicting those factors uncovered in traditional information technology/systems works. This paper concludes with recommendations for future research opportunities for examining AIDS/HIV public policy issues.