DASH Bright Spot: Partnering with Managed Care Organizations to Share Data for Community Health Improvement

This report by Data Across Sectors for Health details how the health department and managed care organizations (MCOs) in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania formed a unique data sharing partnership to improve cardiovascular health outcomes.

Health departments are increasingly recognizing that MCOs can be critical allies in working collaboratively to share key data and understand health outcomes and health care service utilization in their communities. The Allegheny County Health Department is one example of a public health agency that has forged successful partnerships with MCOs in order to work towards shared population health goals.

Allegheny County Health Department leveraged its existing partnerships to collaborate on a project to build a connected data warehouse that would combine data from multiple sectors and export it to a modeling platform to better understand the factors impacting cardiovascular outcomes of county residents. The health department was able to engage three MCOs covering roughly 60% of Allegheny County residents. De-identified data from their insurance claims are now being used to help the health department understand cardiovascular risk factors and test the impact of various interventions.