Massachusetts has more local public health jurisdictions than any other state, and most operate stand-alone boards of health, with limited cross-jurisdictional sharing of services. In 2019, a Massachusetts Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health found that many municipalities were unable to meet statutory requirements, and even more lacked the capacity to meet national public health standards. The Commission’s recommendations to strengthen the local public health system included creating a standardized, integrated, and unified reporting system and strengthening state and local public health department capacity to collect, analyze, and share data.

Methods:

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is preparing for the rollout of METRIK, the Massachusetts initiative to Measure, Evaluate, and Track public health data for more Responsive Insights and Knowledge-sharing, in 2025-2026. DPH is applying human-centered design principles to prioritize diverse user needs for an inclusive, effective solution and account for varying digital and data literacies, connection speeds, and other user needs. They’re also following an organizational change management strategy to prepare, enable, and support users by engaging champions, communicating clearly, and building skills and knowledge through tailored training.

Results:

Since the project started in August 2024, DPH has conducted technical discovery and audience research activities (interviews, listening sessions, focus groups, and surveys) with nearly 300 impacted public health staff representing 166 municipalities in Massachusetts. DPH is now using these insights to drive requirements and technical refinement and prepare for usability testing with up to 150 end users. DPH hosted 43 outreach and engagement activities to date in support of change management, including office hours and webinars where over half of local public health attendees indicated positive initial attitudes towards METRIK.

Conclusions:

By applying human-centered design and change management principles, Massachusetts is prepared for successful implementation of a new public health reporting system, providing a promising model for other state and local data initiatives.