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Breaking down silos: how to share data to improve the health of people experiencing homelessness
Breaking down silos: how to share data to improve the health of people experiencing homelessness
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Siao, Erick, author
Silas, Julie, author - Contributor(s):
- California HealthCare Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Oakland, CA] : California Health Care Foundation, July 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Delivery of Health Care, Integrated
Ill-Housed Persons
Information Dissemination
Intersectoral Collaboration
California
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The homelessness and health care sectors realize the interconnectedness of the housing and health care needs of individuals and communities. Given that housing status is a key social determinant of health, both sectors recognize the role stable housing has in improving and maintaining health, as well as reducing unnecessary emergency room use and hospital admissions. At the same time, research indicates that addressing the health-related needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness is crucial to accessing and sustaining housing. Purposeful collaborations between the health care and homeless systems of care address the important relationship between health care and housing. This report focuses on the various ways in which the two sectors in California are sharing data with each other to better coordinate and support mutual clients within their communities, most often at the county level. Lessons from throughout the state illustrate that data sharing has been pivotal in breaking down silos and coordinating between the two systems to better address clients' needs. This report was written in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when communities were facing unprecedented challenges. It was found that the communities already collaborating across departments before COVID-19 were better positioned to respond to the pandemic, which required a community-wide, organized, multisector approach. For communities not already sharing data across sectors, the realities required for effective COVID-19 responses helped to highlight the advantages in coordinating with partners in both the homelessness and the health care systems. In other words, the pandemic further added urgency for greater cross-sector collaboration. Even with dedicated and committed partnerships in place for cross-sector collaboration, data sharing efforts have not occurred without challenges. Communities have mentioned a common set of barriers they have faced, with four primary ones emerging: (1) Relationships and collaboration; (2) Interoperability; (3) Data quality. This report examines each challenge and a spectrum of potential opportunities to overcome them, with concrete examples from local communities that have had direct experience with cross-sector data sharing (varying in size, geography, and type and stage of data sharing efforts). While there are no uniform ways to address the common challenges, communities have creatively employed strategies and taken advantage of opportunities to continue pushing forward data sharing efforts. These opportunities prove to be most effective when tailored to each community's own needs, structures, relationships, and motivations. This report is intended to serve as a guide to those at any stage of undertaking cross-sector data sharing efforts, including those ready to start such efforts for the first time. While the report is situated in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hope is that lessons and insights gained during this time can carry forward for years to come. From conversations with counties, Continuums of Care (CoCs), health systems, and trusted advisors, one piece of advice came through most saliently: Just get started.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (35 pages))
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918333277406676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918333277406676