A new report says Missouri's public health data isn't as shareable as it should be between agencies, and the state's healthcare outcomes could improve if data silos are reduced.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recently released a report that analyzed the digital health of the state’s public health system with the goal of identifying improvements that could be made to the state’s public health data infrastructure.
The report was the first of its kind to be published in Missouri, and gathered information using a survey-based tool developed by the Health Information and Management Systems Society, or HIMSS. Anne Snowdon is the Chief Scientific Researcher at HIMSS and led development of the digital health indicator tool. Snowdon says Missouri was the first public health system in the world to use the tool at the statewide level.
“What we did with the Missouri project is we worked with every one of the public health teams and measured - where are your digital strengths, where are the gaps? Because once you know that, now you can make very evidence-informed decisions to fill those gaps,” Snowdon said.
Josh Wymer is the chief health information and data strategy officer for DHSS. He says the team behind the report used the tool to gather data along with dozens of town hall style meetings where public health agencies were invited to give feedback on current data capabilities and needs. Wymer said they discovered data often existed in “data silos” that made it hard to share.
“When I think of a data silo, I think of really good data, probably really secure data, but it's also pretty lonely data, because it can't be cross pollinated with other relevant data that could make it more useful or add additional color to interpreting it,” Wymer said.
The report includes recommendations to improve the state’s data infrastructure and make data more accessible between agencies, such as increased training for public health employees and creating a more centralized, shareable database that is still secure. Wymer said some of the recommendations are already in the process of being implemented.
Snowdon says survey results showed Missouri’s public health agencies varied widely in their digital capabilities, but showed high levels of readiness to implement new data systems.
