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Explore challenges in using child health data for policy, research, and practice, from data reliability to communication. Learn from a 4-year study on Children’s Health Initiatives and new data sources for better informed decision-making.
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Using Child Health Data Effectively Child Health Policy Research Symposium
Child Health Data • The link between researchers, practitioners, policy-makers is most frequently “data” and this creates major challenges: • Who decides what data will be gathered? • Are the data reliable and unbiased? • From whom are the data valuable/meaningful? • How are the data communicated and used? • Who can make sense of the data?
Informing Reform • Many of the questions that policy-makers will need have been answered (e.g., the benefits of health insurance), many haven’t (e.g., the best ways to control costs fairly).
Purpose of the Session • Discuss health care data from the perspectives of a data producer and data user, and see how we can better merge link them.
Center for Community Health Studies • Engaged in a 4-year evaluation of Children’s Health Initiatives co-funded by TCE and F5, designed to evaluate a entire initiative. • How to collect data that answers scientific, practice, and policy questions (and notably meets the needs of our funders)?
New Data Sources • Our study has worked to create several new data sources that will be helpful at local and state policy levels: • Detailed county enrollment data for Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and Healthy Kids programs. • State and county-level data on potentially preventable hospitalizations for children (OSHPD). • Detailed empirical, historical data on public insurance program outreach/enrollment strategies.
Statewide Survey of Healthy Kids • Lastly, we are currently collecting survey data on children enrolled in Healthy Kids programs (established vs. newly enrolled): goal=4,000. • Detailed data on child health, access to care, quality of care (particularly medical home) most topics are comparable to CHIS or NHIS. • Results available in mid-July and should help to inform TCE’s place-based funding strategy.