BACKGROUND
Siloed data
Mississippi health data are siloed, often unavailable, and difficult to interpret for community members within the Gulf Coast. Without data, it is impossible to accurately pinpoint community-based problems and develop action plans to address and mitigate pressing issues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes the need for local data as a critical component in decision-making and champions new initiatives that promote community-wide data access and use.
The lack of accessible, usable data challenges Mississippi’s public health agencies and their community partners in managing and preventing chronic diseases. Without a complete picture of the problem, it is difficult to take action to improve community health. MSPHI proposed an initial pilot of a data visualization platform focused on the Gulf Coast community leveraging local Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Electronic Health Record (EHR) data with other publicly available local, state, and national datasets.
MSPHI’s primary mission is to democratize data for Mississippians by developing a data sharing and visualization platform which will foster a secure environment for community members to access and leverage relevant data in a user-friendly interface.
APPROACH
Scalable data sharing and visualization platform
MSPHI assembled a Steering Committee with members from different sectors aligned with the Public Health 3.0 approach. They engaged HLN Consulting to provide oversight and manage the project.
HLN did a thorough analysis, engaged MSPHI stakeholders, developed several options, and proposed a progressive implementation roadmap to implement a platform that resolves more immediate challenges and builds a more robust solution over time with multiple data sources and a myriad of data sharing and visualization capabilities.
To recommend an overall strategy HLN collected, categorized, prioritized, and maintained the MSPHI Steering Committee Members’ (SCM) requirements in a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM), an industry-standard tool. HLN conducted targeted research and evaluated available vendor products and existing public health agency data visualization initiatives. MSPHI is now positioned to seek funding for implementation with a clear, well-documented implementation plan.
