Health Care: Unlocking the Value of Data Sharing
Primary Stakeholder: Hospitals and Health Systems
Integrating health care data with data from other sectors helps address the holistic needs of individual patients while informing the development of population-level programs and policies that can improve outcomes, both in health care and other sectors. This paper provides guidance for those in non-health care sectors (e.g. housing, social services, community-based organizations) on effectively engaging and advancing conversations with health care stakeholders about sharing data. It focuses on the specific stakeholder of hospitals/ health systems and addresses the following components:
General background on hospitals/health systems
Important drivers and concerns of hospitals/health systems (e.g. financing, incentives, accountability, etc.)
The value for hospitals/health systems of exchanging data with other sectors
In the introduction to this series, we provide a basic method for reaching out to those in your community who may share your interest in collaborating and sharing data. We invite you to consider how to approach health care colleagues using the framework and guiding questions in the introductory paper.
Additional Health Care Resources:
Health Care Data 101: A DASH informational guide that serves as a starting point for non-health sector professionals who want to further investigate and leverage the health care data available in their local communities.
Coordinated Whole-Person Care that Addresses the Social Determinants of Health: A DASH brief on five communities that are developing data infrastructure to support models of coordinated care across medical and community services, orienting care around the whole person’s needs.
How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Move Upstream to Improve Community Health: A report from de Beaumont Foundation and the BUILD Health Challenge that examines how hospitals and health systems can improve their community engagement work by fostering cross-sector partnerships.
Using Electronic Health Data for Community Health: A roadmap for overcoming perceived barriers to using electronic health data for public health activities from the de Beaumont Foundation and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Learning Guide Series on Improved Use of EHRs for Population Health: A learning guide series highlighting key lessons from Community Health Peer Learning Program (CHP) Subject Matter Expert communities about how collaborative data infrastructure development can help drive better care, smarter spending, and healthier communities.
Working Together Toward Better Health Outcomes: A report from the Center for Health Care Strategies, informed by a survey of more than 200 health care related partnerships, that explores the many ways that health care organizations and community-based organizations are partnering in shared pursuit of better health outcomes.
Investing in Social Services as a Core Strategy for Healthcare Organizations: Developing the Business Case: A practical Commonwealth Fund guide to support health plan and provider investments in social services.
Using Community Partnerships to Integrate Health and Social Services for High-Need, High-Cost Patients: Research from Commonwealth Fund on community-based partnerships around the U.S. are seeking to integrate health and social services for complex patients.
Partnering to Catalyze Comprehensive Community Wellness: A framework, developed by the Public Health Leadership Forum and Health Care Transformation Task Force, intended to help catalyze and facilitate collaborative working relationships between the public health and health care sectors.
Building Interest in Population Health Among Hospitals and Health Systems: An issue brief from Kansas Health Institute outlining potential benefits and challenges for hospitals addressing population health and approaches used by hospitals to operationalize population health work.
Aligning Health Systems with Community Development: An article describing how hospitals and health systems can play a key role in mobilizing and aligning joint resources to bring positive changes to low-income communities.
Case Studies:
Partnering with Managed Care Organizations to Share Data for Community Health Improvement: A DASH bright spot describing how the Allegheny County Health Department has forged successful partnerships with managed care organizations in order to work towards shared population health goals.
Addressing Healthcare’s Blindside in Albuquerque’s South Side: A case study on how a BUILD Health Challenge partnership implemented an integrated chronic disease management referral system to link clinics to community resources in order to improve health outcomes.
Failing Forward Together: This CHP bright spot profile outlines key takeaways from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center's efforts to improve transitions from the hospital back into the community.
Webinars:
Using Electronic Health Data for Community Health: Experts from Johns Hopkins University and the Network for Public Health Law discussed the legal underpinnings of data sharing between health systems and public health departments.
Developing Data Systems for Care Coordination Using Patient-Centered Approaches: Children’s Comprehensive Care Clinic and Altair Accountable Care Organization explained how they are developing integrated data systems that include data from multiple sectors to improve care coordination for special needs populations.
Leveraging User-Centered Technology to Improve Health Outcomes: Essential Access Health and HealthInfoNet shared how they are designing and implementing user-centered, interactive applications that leverage data from EHRs and other sources to improve the health of under-resourced populations.
Podcasts:
Designing a Family-Centered Care Plan for Children with Special Needs in Austin, TX: Dr. Susan Millea and Dr. Rahel Berhane described a patient-controlled common technology platform that improves care coordination for families of children with medical and behavioral complexity.
Integrating Data to Ensure “All Children Thrive” in Cincinnati, OH: Dr. Andy Beck, a pediatrician at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, discussed a project that is addressing disparities in hospital bed days for kids with asthma and respiratory issues.
Connecting Hospitals and Food Pantries in Dallas, TX: Stephanie Fenniri and Yolande Pengetnze explained how the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation is connecting hospitals and food pantries to help clients manage their chronic conditions.