CLF felt that mapping health outcome data would provide significant added value to Equity Atlas 2.0 and to the region’s ability to analyze and visualize the connections between the social determinants of health and health outcomes. However, mapping health care and health outcome data is extremely difficult because of patient privacy issues and the lack of data aggregation across providers. CLF was able to resolve this challenge by partnering with the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation (Q Corp), a nonprofit organization that has built the infrastructure for gathering and processing patient-level data while ensuring patient privacy.
Q Corp is dedicated to improving the quality and affordability of health care in Oregon by leading community collaborations and producing unbiased information. Q Corp provides information to health care providers, insurers, and consumers about the quality, utilization, and costs of health care in Oregon. In partnership with its network of stakeholders, Q Corp has developed the most comprehensive administrative claims (insurance billing) database in Oregon, including data from Oregon’s largest commercial health plans, Medicaid managed care plans and the Oregon Health Authority Division of Medical Assistance Programs (Medicaid). Q Corp was enthusiastic about using its data to partner with CLF on the Equity Atlas 2.0 because of the potential for promoting broader public health goals.
Q Corp’s contributions to the Regional Equity Atlas 2.0 included:
- Helping to identify the most compelling health care and health outcome indicators for the Equity Atlas 2.0
- Developing data specs for the indicators
- Working with its network of stakeholders to gather data for the indicators
- Working with a third-party data services vendor to map address-level data while maintaining patient confidentiality
- Assisting with analysis and interpretation of the data