Shared Data

Shared data is “a feature of aligned systems that enables sectors to collectively and systematically gather, organize, and share data between entities, and the process of using this information to track progress.”²⁴

“At the beginning, we also had a survey that we sent out very broadly, that we actually use as a foundation for all the work that we did. We were like: so what’s happening, what’s going on? And then: where are the holes, how do we see the value of the ACHs filling in any of those holes? And so that’s kind of where things like the pilot program in [the county] with trauma informed nutrition really sprung up out of. And then also, some of the work with the neighborhood navigators and developing the relationship with the medical payers and things like that sort of came out of some of that, like strategizing. So we used a survey, we asked the people at the table.”

– Social Services Representative, CA

Key Takeaways

• Data can be used as map to guide ACH actions or as indicator to measure ACH progress.
• Using data is an important ACH activity that can facilitate various types of aligning, whether that be care coordination, community information exchanges, or interorganizational collaboration.
• ACHs can benefit from looking at data about processes in addition to data about outcomes, since improving present processes is one way to increase chances of improving future outcomes.

Survey Findings

• 61% of respondents said that their MSC is doing a lot to track its progress on increasing health equity or reducing disparities (n=156).
• 67% of respondents said that their MSC is doing a lot to regularly share data & progress reports with community, clinical, & tribal partners (n=182).

MSCs can leverage data in numerous ways. They can collect data from community members to inform their decision-making and ensure that their initiatives are targeting the right issues. In addition, MSCs can use data to see how well they are progressing towards their goals, which is useful for seeing if any changes need to be made to their strategies. Through regular surveys and community meetings, MSCs can hold themselves accountable to their community’s needs and well-being. This means that data should capture more than just target outcomes—such as improved mental health. Instead, data can also be used to measure progress such as increased referrals to mental health clinics or greater awareness of mental health services among community members. Finally, partners within MSCs can benefit from sharing data with one another. This could include patient health data shared using secure systems such as health information exchanges (HIEs) or non-sensitive data such as the results of community surveys. Not only can MSCs use multiple sources of data to guide collaborative work, but they can connect partners with new sources of data to inform their own decision-making.

Perceptions of Data

As evidenced by survey results, MSC participants had mixed feelings about their MSC’s ability to effectively use data. Perceptions of strong data use varied by different local contexts and participant backgrounds. We found that:

• Not every MSC was seen as equally effective at using data.
• MSCs that served larger geographic areas tended to have better perceptions of data use.
• MSCs with public funding tended to have better perceptions of data use.
• People from tribal communities and nations, as well as people who worked with the MSC, tended to have better perceptions of data use, while community representatives and people who worked in social services, public health, and health care tended to have worse perceptions of their MSC’s data use.

“Our data platform has been really huge… This really high quality data now, in five years, could be extremely beneficial to the organizations…. That’s been kind of one of our hardest costs of maintaining the site, but we have indicators and data support on all ends for it, and the tracking I think will be really, really beneficial.”

– ACH Staff, CA

Related Resources

• Toolbox for Measuring Cross-Sector Alignment, a Population Health Innovation Lab (PHIL) toolbox (2020)
• TEAM: A Toolkit for Everyone Aligning and Measuring, a Georgia Health Policy Center toolkit
• Developing a Framework To Measure the Health Equity Impact of Accountable Communities For Health, a Funders Forum on Accountable Health report
• Powering Change Curriculum: Building Healthy, Equitable Communities Together, a Population Health Innovation Lab (PHIL) and California Accountable Community for Health Initiative (CACHI) curriculum for multisector collaboratives (2021)

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View all references for the Data Walk.