Payer Seeks to Democratize Social Determinants of Health Data

Blue Shield of California has partnered with a third-party vendor to make social determinants of health data accessible to anyone.

Payers and providers talk extensively about sharing social determinants of health data and other information with each other, but some payers are starting to consider ways to “democratize data.”

“By making the data publicly available, anyone can gain a deeper understanding of the unmet social needs in their community and serve the population with increased knowledge about issues that have an impact on people’s health and wellbeing,” said Peter Long, senior vice president of healthcare and community health transformation at Blue Shield of California.

The Neighborhood Health Dashboard allows anyone—whether or not she is a Blue Shield of California member or a resident of California—to access social determinants of health data about any zip code or address.

Users must give their personal name and their organization’s name in order to see the data on the area of their choice for free.

“The use cases are wide-ranging and enable multiple audiences with health information like never before,” the Blue Shield of California website explained.

“For intentionality, impact, and accessibility to communities across the state, over 100 data indicators have been selected that best capture a holistic definition of community health and help inform action. These measures range from chronic disease outcomes to health behaviors to environmental and economic conditions.”

The dashboard’s almost 100 data indicators pull data from numerous sources. In some areas, the data is broken down by census tract, a plot of land that usually spans a few blocks, explained a Blue Shield of California video that HealthPayerIntelligence received by email.

“Community health needs assessments are important tools in helping to align disparate organizations in a common strategy to improve the health of the community and address health disparities,” Long shared.

The information may serve California stakeholders across the industry segments. Community health organizations, for example, can leverage the data to better identify needs in their regions.

“Ultimately, patients and providers of Community Health Centers will benefit when our members and communities are able to collectively work to identify opportunities to improve individual and community level health,” said Mike Witte, chief medical officer at California Primary Care Association, a collective of over 1,300 nonprofit community health centers.

Aside from community health centers, Blue Shield of California’s press release indicated that health advocates, physicians, public health officials, and policymakers would also benefit from having access to this information.

The tool has already been leveraged to assist in creating statewide coronavirus recovery strategies.

It also serves to break down racial health disparities by revealing regions and demographics that do not have sufficient access to care.

The program is part of Blue Shield of California’s Health Reimagined initiative. This program started out as a collection of 20 pilots serving four counties in California and now serves the entire state. Its goal is to bring “high-tech, high-touch” solutions to Californians.

As part of the Health Reimagined initiative, the payer recently announced that it would also be working with a separate vendor partner to serve members with chronic kidney disease.

The partnership will conduct risk stratification of Blue Shield of California’s claims data to discern at-risk individuals. The program surrounds at-risk members with a coordinated care team as well as peer support.

These types of programs underscore a common goal in the healthcare industry today: to use personalized data to empower those within the healthcare system in their decision-making processes.

These efforts are especially critical in light of the coronavirus pandemic, as frontline workers and community-based organizations struggle to meet patient needs and stay afloat.

Once community-based organizations access and assess data from sources such as the Neighborhood Health Dashboard, referral networks can help them coordinate their responses.