Characteristics of a local health department that support use of social determinant data to mitigate health disparities

Local health departments (LHD) throughout the country face challenges in applying timely, reliable, and credible data to their decision-making. The Connecticut Public Health Practice Based Research network (CT PBRN) assessed the utility of equipping local health departments with a data-driven instrument to aid their understanding of the populations they serve. Connecticut LHDs were provided with a health equity index as an instrument and method to assess town-specific community measures that impact health outcomes. Analysis of LHD characteristics such as staff training and expertise, population served, staff size, governance, and prior experience using data for decision making were examined to determine if these factors were significantly associated with use of the index. Health departments were categorized as low, medium and high users of the index, based on frequency and duration of use. Findings showed that full time health departments were more likely to use the index than rural part-time departments, and that the size of the population served and form of governance were the most important determinants for usage of this data. Social and demographic characteristics of the population served were less likely to be correlated with index usage. Participants will be introduced to the index instrument and the analytics utilized to assess its usage and associated findings.