Policy Goal 4: Help communities collect and share data at the local level
1. Does the state support data sharing information technology infrastructure (e.g., databases) at the local level to enable the collection, analysis, and use of data across systems?
RATIONALE: Making data-driven decisions about the type and scale of approaches needed to reduce the number of people with behavioral health needs in local criminal justice systems requires communities to move beyond anecdotal information and guesswork. But localities often need help addressing some of the common challenges related to collecting, analyzing, and reporting accurate data, including inconsistent data collection, incompatible information systems, and lack of staff and IT capacity.
State support for local and/or regional databases can help improve cross-system collaboration for system planning and policy purposes, as well as support care and service coordination. Further, improving local communities’ ability to consistently track progress over time better positions state and local leaders to
- Identify which responses and investments are having an impact;
- Focus resources to scale up what is working; and
- Identify gaps where new policies, interventions, or investments are needed.
Ways to do it
- Seek county input to identify barriers to local cross-systems information sharing.
- Support or provide data sharing IT infrastructure through grant programs and/or public-private partnerships.
- Provide technical assistance to communities through state-administered training and guidance.
Things to consider
- States may consider funding statewide, local, or regional data warehouses. Data warehouses allow for all relevant information to be stored in one place with different access levels for each agency. This makes it easier to collect information across agencies and share which cases are “flagged” for connections to care, such as collaborative comprehensive case management approaches between pretrial services and behavioral health agencies. If communities have the capacity to implement these types of systems, then the associated agencies will need agreements to share data.
- States may also consider supporting local data systems capable of supplying real-time information to first responders to facilitate appropriate, individualized client responses for people with behavioral health needs.
- Additional layers of privacy protection are needed to be able to access and share identifiable health data for care coordination and case management purposes. States should provide clear guidance on allowances through state regulations as well as through applicable federal guidelines. See Policy Goal 5.
State Examples
2. Does the state provide support for local staffing (e.g., project coordinators, data analysts) to enable data collection and analysis?
RATIONALE: An essential component to ensuring that communities can meet these requirements is having staff capacity, such as coordinators and data scientists, at the local level to enable data collection and analysis within and across systems.
Yet these essential functions are often not funded at the county level due to budget constraints or a lack of an appropriate local agency to host someone who does cross-system analysis. If there is dedicated local funding, these positions are typically only found in larger (and often, better resourced) jurisdictions that were able to devote the time and resources to make a case to local governments for support, further exacerbating discrepancies across jurisdictions within a given state.
States are also in the position to ensure that localities have the capacity to collect, analyze, and share data and other information across sectors for making decisions and tracking progress. Having data capacity can facilitate care coordination, regular reporting, and ongoing progress tracking to make course corrections and support sustainability over time.
Ways to do it
- Create or adapt a grant program to fund the hiring of project coordinators and data analysts and/or provide flexibility in funding so that local jurisdictions can fill local gaps in data collection.
- Provide technical assistance to local jurisdictions through state-administered training and guidance, including assistance identifying funding sources to enhance program coordination and data analysis capacity.
- Partner with universities or training and technical assistance providers to create a statewide data hub that can provide data services to counties.
Things to consider
- Investment in project coordinators and data analysts has shown to be effective in helping counties manage the work at the local level (e.g., Stepping Up Innovator counties) and vital for local jurisdictions to make and track progress.
- State funding opportunities should allow for regional staff to account for local needs.