Written by Kate Ricker-Kiefert, chief executive officer of Amelia Mayme Consulting, this blueprint provides recommendations for state data and technology funding.
For background, in California, the state’s ambitious 1115 Medicaid waiver program, California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), is providing significant investments for behavioral health integration and social needs interventions across Medi-Cal programs. At the same time, the state’s Data Exchange Framework (DxF) and Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) establish a common set of rules and policies for data sharing across the health and social sectors in the state.
Beyond these efforts, California’s health, public health, and social services agencies have several ongoing projects that face similar data and technology needs, such as:
- Enhanced electronic data management systems (e.g., electronic health record (EHR), electronic screening and assessment tools, data management systems)
- Client data exchange through intermediary entities, including health information exchanges (HIEs), community information exchanges (CIEs), and/or care coordination platforms
- Resource data exchange through community resource referral networks
- Community data governance with stakeholder engagement and nonprofit board governance
- Aggregated, integrated data sets, and analytics capabilities
- Program performance measurement and evaluation
- Digital identity strategy for cross-organization and organization patient/person identity matching
The blueprint concludes by advising California policymakers to create a comprehensive strategy that maximizes federal funding opportunities and creates lasting, interoperable data systems. A variety of state and federal investments in health data infrastructure exist to meet these needs, and the state should prioritize a technology funding blueprint that leverages those investments to improve health outcomes for all, according to Ricker-Kiefert.
