Background: The emergence of Health Data Utilities (HDU) marks a turning point in public health. HDUs are regional or statewide entities that combine, enhance, & exchange electronic health data across care & service settings for treatment, care coordination, quality improvement, health equity, & public & community health purposes. HDUs can leverage existing health information exchange (HIE) infrastructure to enhance data governance & privacy protections. This advanced framework enables states to share a wider range of data, from clinical & claims data to social determinants of health (SDOH), fostering enhanced collaboration & leading to improved patient care & outcomes.

A leading multi-jurisdictional HIE & HDU, a RHIC, & a national association of HIEs are zeroing in on the power of partnerships. Collectively, they seek to foster a more efficient, inclusive, and equitable healthcare landscape by leveraging their vast expertise & sharing resources & best practices.

Objective/Purpose: This panel discussion will explore how these organizations are collaborating to advance the reach & functionality of HDUs & showcase the indispensable role HDU will play in crafting an equitable & well-informed public health system.

Methods: Highlight key characteristics of the HDU model and explore its comprehensive approach to state & regional health data sharing that is built on inclusivity & trust. Key discussion points will include:

• Collaborating across the healthcare ecosystem to address & fulfill diverse health data requirements.
• Implementing stringent data governance to ensure data privacy, security, & integrity, & sharing what this means for public health partners.
• Public-private partnership & aspects of implementation.
• Specific public health use cases.

Discussion/Conclusions: Establishing HDUs as trusted partners for public health leaders & departments is paramount to building data-driven public health solutions. Our presentation will explore how regional HDUs can leverage sophisticated data management, integration & governance to strengthen public health, improve health disparities & foster a healthier, more equitable society.

Background: The City of Dearborn, stands at the forefront of integrating public health with advanced informatics, underpinned by its unique demographic and recent strides in technology partnerships. Establishing the Dearborn Public Health Department in April 2022, Dearborn became just the second city in Michigan with a formal health department and the first city nationwide to launch one voluntarily. Southeast Michigan is a hub for pivotal transformation in public health. This initiative, reflective of a broader partnership with technology leaders, including a high-profile collaboration with Google Cloud and Wayne State University’s PHOENIX (Population Health OutcomEs INformatIon EXchange) project, aims to enhance Dearborn's position as a nationwide model for data-driven public health strategies.

Objective/Purpose: This study showcases the impact of merging PHOENIX's integrated data warehousing and analytics with Dearborn's public health strategies to conduct the city's first comprehensive community health needs assessment (CHNA). It emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships in using informatics to address health disparities, enhance equity, and build community trust.

Methods: Adopting a health-in-all policies approach, the project leverages PHOENIX on the Google Cloud Platform for data integration and analysis, creating a detailed health data ecosystem. In parallel, Dearborn Public Health conducts a traditional CHNA and a pilot CHNA via PHOENIX's infrastructure, facilitating a comparative analysis to evaluate the approaches’ effectiveness.

Results: Initial findings indicate a shift in community health assessment, marked by enhanced data accessibility and the ability to pinpoint health needs and disparities through public analytics. The synergy between technology and public health expertise fosters evidence-based decision-making, underscoring informatics' essential role in public health advancement.

Discussion/Conclusions: Dearborn's initiative, supported by key technology partnerships, emerges as a potential blueprint for incorporating health informatics into public health practice. It offers a scalable approach for cost-effective, accessible, and community-focused health assessments, signaling a new direction in employing informatics to address social determinants of health efficiently.