COVID-19 Data Solutions for the St. Louis Region
Below is the recording of presentation from representatives of the Regional Data Alliance. The ongoing pandemic has created both an acute need and a unique opportunity for regional healthcare data. There is an unprecedented urgency to use data from a wide variety of sources to inform and guide the work and decisions of regional Departments of Health, healthcare system leaders, public health, and infectious disease researchers, as well as elected officials and the general public. Collecting, integrating, and analyzing this data effectively is a substantial challenge requiring skilled data practitioners as well as new levels of cooperation and collaboration throughout the region.
On March 5th, 2021 at 9am we explored the scope of this challenge, the progress that the contributors have accomplished in pursuit of these lofty-yet-necessary goals, and the call for further progress – both within the current crisis and any future healthcare events.
About The Speakers
Douglas Briggs
Mr. Douglas Briggs has been active in the field of Information Management for the entirety of his 20+-year career. He consults with Daugherty Business Solutions’ clients primarily regarding data strategy and data governance. Chief among his specialties are innovations in data classification and organizational development for effective information management practices. He holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College (Mass).
Haresh Bhatia
A leading technology and medical informatics researcher with extensive experience providing business IT solutions, architectural support, and data science solutions for private, non-profit, educational, and other large-scale global organizations. Haresh has published articles on varying topics of interest to Medical Informatics community in several peer-reviewed journals. Haresh serves on the boards of TDWI St. Louis Chapter, and HIMSS Midwest Gateway Chapter.
Haresh has served as an assistant editor and reviewer for submission to International and Medical Informatics Associations (IMIA) and continues to serve as a reviewer for submissions to American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).
Haresh is also on the review panel of the peer-reviewed publications like Pediatrics, PLOS-ONE, and Applied Clinical Informatics.
Paul Sorenson
As one of the Interim Co-Directors of the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) Community Innovation and Action Center (CIAC), Paul founded and leads the collaborative St. Louis Regional Data Alliance (RDA) to support local governments, nonprofits, funders, and universities in using data for community benefit. The RDA is actively involved in building public health data infrastructure to address COVID-19 and beyond, and works closely with United Way 2-1-1 and its partners on establishing the St. Louis Community Information Exchange (CIE) to share referrals across health and social service providers. As the data backbone for the CIE, Paul and the RDA lead its strategies around data governance, integration, and shared measurement across dozens of health and social partners. At CIAC, Paul also manages community-engaged research projects with local governments, nonprofits, and academics focused on data infrastructure, collaboration, and continuous improvement — creating a bridge between the university system and the St. Louis region. Before coming to UMSL, Paul previously founded and ran GoodMap, an online tool for nonprofits to organize information about the services they provided to their communities, and served as the Director of Strategic Planning at Grace Hill Settlement House, which provided a wide range of services for families and communities including early childhood, housing, and older adults.
Thank you for the excellent presentation. At the 19:00 minute mark, Douglas Briggs describes the reconciliation of patient records and updates to the REDcap database. It makes me wonder when providers will finally leverage existing data in order to improve the patient registration and admittance experience. As a patient, I find it frustrating to complete forms providing the same recurring information, particularly in times where urgent care is warranted.
The issue is lack of willingness to exchange healthcare data by healthcare institutions.
Despite the varying practices and disparate implementation of informatics tools within the institutions, it is feasible to exchange healthcare data through means such as HL7 (Health Level 7 – check out details here –> https://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/).
The nationwide push for Health Information Exchange (HIE) started more than 15 years ago. However, for various reasons, it has not succeeded in easing the ‘pains’ of healthcare system. A majority of providers are as disappointed as the concerned patients.
While success stories of HIE push have been fewer in the past, it seems to be picking up the pace. You may be able to find some details online.
Hope this addresses some the concerns you had in mind.
We appreciate your question(s).
Haresh.