COLUMBIA - Accidents cost South Carolina $10 million in Medicaid alone each year.
Complications from surgery are among the more prevalent types of accidents among seniors.
And the "stroke belt" of the Peedee region in the northeast really does exist: More strokes occur there than elsewhere in the state.
Those are the conclusions of just 10 minutes of searching the Senior Cube, "a nationally, and possibly internationally, unique database" that South Carolina is developing, says Bruce Bondo, the deputy director for policy and planning in the Lieutenant Governor's Office on Aging.
The Senior Cube is an Internet-based searchable database that draws information about South Carolina seniors from a variety of sources, including Medicare, hospital admissions forms and the Office of Vital Statistics.
The "data warehouse" is expected to be available to researchers in January.
Mr. Bondo said the information will help the state determine, among other things, what programs are most effective, which areas of the state are prone to a particular illness and how state money can be used most efficiently.
For example, he said, the database has shown that people who get three or more home-delivered meals a week have fewer hospital visits.
Delivering meals to a senior's home costs the state thousands less than a hospital stay, so maybe it makes sense to invest more money in community-based programs, Mr. Bondo said.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer says the Senior Cube will help lawmakers know how and where to direct funding.
"As a conservative, I'd rather spend the money on the front end and save money on the back end," he said.
Elaine Lust, of Bluffton, saw a demonstration of the Senior Cube on Wednesday.
Ms. Lust thinks the database might encourage research of issues that have been understudied.
"I think it's fabulous that the information is so readily available," she said.
That's one of the key benefits of the database, said Beth Hollingsworth, who works in the Aging office.
Until now, a research request would go to the Office of Research and Statistics, and the report would come back about a month later, she said.
Now, she said, "We go to the Senior Cube and we go click, click, click, and we've got our data."
Mr. Bondo said the Research and Statistics Office still will be doing the research, but the program's partners - including the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and AARP - will have access to the data.
Individuals' confidential health records are protected, he said, because the database has only aggregate information.
"No one is able to go in and say, 'Find Mary Smith' or you or me," Mr. Bondo said.
He also said the state intends to develop other cubes, such as one emphasizing mothers and babies, using all the data that have been collected from state agencies.
