Data's role in building effective learning health systems

Data is the key element in turning public health agencies (PHAs) into learning public health systems (LHS) that can work to improve population health, according to a paper published this week in eGEMs (Generating Evidence & Methods to improve patient outcomes).

In looking at the ability of PHAs to become learning health systems, report author Donald Steinwachs, Ph.D., says they need to have "the organizational capacity to use data and evidence to drive system priorities and to support public health practice with timely information on quality, cost, and population health outcomes."

One of the goals of the Officer for the National Coordinator for Health IT's interoperability roadmap is to build a continuous learning health system, FierceHealthIT previously reported.

In addition, a December report by JASON, an independent group of scientists that advises the U.S. government on science and technology, states that the ultimate goal is to achieve an "agile, national-scale 'Learning Health System' for identifying and sharing effective practices of care."

Currently, much of how PHAs are run and organized varies between states and individual public health departments, Steinwachs says. That doesn't cause concern as long as the PHAs are matching the needs of the population. But variations that don't cater to population needs are not acceptable, he adds.

Areas that need to be addressed regarding the organization, quality and efficiency of PHAs, according to Steinwachs, include:

  1. The three core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and assurance
  2. State- and local-level health data to inform PHA priorities
  3. Specification of the mission, authority and responsibility of a state PHA in state statutes
  4. Timely access to information

In addition, Steinwachs writes that adequate resources also are a concern in transforming PHAs into data-driven learning public health systems.

"To be effective, public health needs to collect and analyze data, and to continually evaluate population health needs in collaboration with the community, the services provided, population health, and future priorities," he says.

Geisinger Health System has also created a framework for building a learning health system, focused on nine areas: data and analytics; people and partnerships; patient and family engagement; ethics and oversight; evaluation and methodology; funding; organization; prioritization; and deliverables.

To learn more:
- read the paper (.pdf)