Collecting data that prioritizes equity and systematizes outreach enables quality improvement in operations and management. Without standard practices, difficulties exist in discerning what factors contribute to the success or failure of clinics and community partnerships. Unsure how to best allocate resources to address health disparities in communities, the Jefferson County Health Department partnered with the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence to prioritize mobile health service delivery to populations most in need. Reviews of best practices and the literature as well as interviews of mobile health service providers revealed the need for an original approach.

That need prompted collaborative development of an operations-based decision tool that, along with questionnaires for potential clinic partners, helps the department gather all relevant data to determine priority clinics. The questionnaires collect information about selection criteria chosen by clinical and non-clinical staff. Analyses of questionnaire data indicate, first, whether each proposed clinic remains feasible logistically and, second, how each proposed clinic targets populations in most need. Collection of patient demographics and social determinants of health in clinic settings confirms in later evaluation if clinics chosen for execution advance health equity as intended. As such, this session teaches attendees how to: 1) Identify needs and gaps in data collection, 2) Develop custom survey methodologies to collect data, and 3) Direct service provision towards populations most in need using evidence-informed practices.

Speaker: Allie Bodin, MPH, CPH, Health Data Analytics and Informatics Manager, Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence

Conference 2023