Wayne State University has received a $500,000 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to implement the Population Health Outcomes aNd Information EXchange (PHOENIX) platform, which will function as a health information exchange (HIE) of sorts by collecting population health data to determine how community factors may be contributing to health concerns.
PHOENIX gathers neighborhood information from southeast Michigan, such as household income, crime statistics, and access to grocery stores. It then combines that information together with health data from the community, such as demographics, vital signs, medical history, diagnostic codes, and emergency department visits to learn more about the cause of community health issues.
“PHOENIX will change the way we think about population-based health,” said Phillip Levy, MD, professor of emergency medicine and WSU assistant vice president of translational research. “This will efficiently identify health needs, provide robust and comprehensive data on risk factors and health outcomes, enable rapid evaluation of intervention effectiveness, and create an opportunity for communities, nonprofits, government agencies, and researchers to join forces in pursuit of a better quality of life for all.”
Researchers, health and human service providers, and nonprofit agencies can take the information and then personalize health services, design research studies, and assess public health programs using the updated and accurate information, program leaders explained. Service providers are then able to target the areas that are most in need of health intervention efforts.
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The $500,000 grant will spread over two years and it will support the building of a technological infrastructure. It will also help build a coalition of governmental, corporate (both healthcare and non-healthcare related), foundation, community, and academic partners. This team will work together to define problems, develop interventions, and resource project initiation, the writers described.
“PHOENIX’s comprehensive data collection will help us understand southeastern Michigan health disparities at a deeper level,” said Laurie Solotorow, program director at the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. “By better quantifying the gaps, as well as the complex social and geographic factors that cause them, we are proud to partner with WSU to open the door for more effective and lasting interventions.”
Partners in this project include the Michigan Health Information Exchange (MiHIN); Detroit Health Department; Wayne County Health, Veterans & Community Wellness Department; Wayne State Center for Urban Studies; Data-Driven Detroit; Loveland Technologies; and Detroit East Medical Control Authority. PHOENIX promotes the collaboration of local, regional, and state stakeholders through comprehensive information sharing.
Wayne State University will specifically target Detroit’s health equity in an attempt to further research the city’s health concerns.
The latest move from Wayne State aims to address a growing problem in the public health industry: once social detriments of health information is secured, it is not easy to exchange the data over health information exchanges.
Based on a 2019 eHealth Initiative survey, social determinants of health data and behavioral health data are the most challenging data sets to share through HIEs.
The eHealth Initiative survey was based on 20 questions surrounding health IT adoption, clinical and claims data integration, types of data included in health data exchange, HIE business drivers and priorities, and challenges associated with Health IT use and data exchange. Fifty-three HIE leaders across the country were polled in the survey.
“A lack of consensus on standards for capturing and representing SDOH data creates barriers to its collection and use, as does navigating legal parameters for cross-sector information sharing,” wrote eHealth Exchange officials in the report.
“HIEs are incredibly valuable in the world of value-based care due to their ability to aggregate data and present it in a meaningful way.”
Source: EHR Intelligence