Key Takeaways
- California’s behavioral health, public health, and social service agencies are operating with critical data gaps.
- Entrenched barriers in technology, workforce, financing, and policy are holding back counties’ ability to develop data exchange capabilities.
- See recommendations to address these barriers and learn specific steps to launch cross-sector data exchange.
California has invested heavily in clinical health information exchange, but behavioral health, public health, and social services have been left behind. This creates fragmented care that harms people with complex needs.
Past federal programs like the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act show what’s possible when resources support data exchange. Similar investments could transform how behavioral health, public health, and social services organizations share information.
CHCF partnered with researchers at Manatt and UCSF to survey key stakeholders to understand barriers to cross-sector data exchange and identify solutions. This research can guide California’s efforts to improve information sharing across health and human services.
Key Findings
The research reveals significant gaps in data exchange:
- About half of county behavioral health, public health, and social service agencies exchange data electronically with few or no partners.
- 71% of county behavioral health agencies don’t receive electronic notifications when someone enters a hospital for a mental health emergency.
- Only 7% of county public health agencies can receive electronic alerts from hospitals.
The animated video below shows the impact on patients caused by the lack of effective data exchange.
The Path Forward
To provide timely and coordinated care, organizations must address barriers to cross-sector electronic data exchange in four critical areas.
Technology
Support the development of standardized data exchange governance and policies that address the specific needs of the behavioral health, public health, and social service sectors, including the development and implementation of data standards to support interoperability.
Workforce
Support workforce development to recruit, train, and retain technical and administrative staff who can support data exchange workflows, manage technical infrastructure, and minimize the administrative burden on providers.
Financing
Identify strategies to leverage and creatively braid federal, state, local, and philanthropic funds to secure the necessary financing to build statewide data infrastructure and to incentivize sectors in developing the capacity to support cross-sector exchange.
Policy, guidance, and technical assistance
Provide targeted technical assistance through Communities of Practice and Learning Collaboratives facilitated by subject matter experts to share insights and to support counties in dispelling and overcoming perceived barriers to private data sharing.
