From Data to Action

Examples of Data in Action

Examples of Using NHP Data and Tools for Action

Below are examples of how reports have been used and/or how we anticipate different roles could use data and tools provided by NHP to facilitate action. Click on the images below to view detailed information on how NHP resources can be used for a specified persona. For questions or suggestions, please contact us at nhp@hip.wisc.edu.

Researcher

Goals

  • Identifying ZIPs with low childhood vaccination rates in her health system’s service area
  • Learning more about the population in the area
  • Identifying barriers to childhood vaccination to address

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • A local immunization coalition and school nurses

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

Related Policy

Outcomes

  • Strengthened relationships with community partners by sharing data that is relevant to their vaccination improvement efforts
  • Learning what the priorities of the community are and potential barriers to vaccination
  • Submission of a grant with a community partner to develop an intervention to improve vaccination rates in neighborhoods with high need

Community Pharmacists

Goals

  • Identify ZIP codes with lowest blood sugar testing and blood sugar control in diabetes
  • Implement additional programming for patients with diabetes in these areas

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Community pharmacists and their patients, pharmacy students, local organization that hosts diabetes self-management classes, health systems

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

  • Community pharmacists can use a framework to help them understand how to improve diabetes programming to meet the needs of the participants. The pharmacists can hold a community forum with patients, pharmacy students and local health systems to learn their needs and concerns regarding diabetes care in their area. Together they can select a diabetes intervention that helps to meet the goals of all partners and will build and strengthen partnerships to improve health and care for patients with diabetes.

Related Policy

Outcomes

  • Additional diabetes self-management programs offered in areas of high need
  • Increased blood sugar testing and blood sugar control
  • Learning opportunities for pharmacy students to help conduct medication reviews in the community

Community Coalition

Goals

  • Identify rural underserved ZIP codes in Wisconsin with low colorectal cancer screening rates in the area the coalition serves
  • Understand the economic and social environment of the populations living in their ZIP codes
  • Distribute colorectal cancer screening test kits to communities with lowest screening rates

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Researchers, Aging and Disability Resource Centers, health insurance companies

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

Related Policy

Outcomes

  • Analyzed data in the reports
  • Strategized as a coalition and created partnerships to identify potential opportunities for action
  • Connections with Aging and Disability Resource Centers who serve the counties of the ZIP codes identified as having low colorectal cancer screening rates to distribute the test kits

Community Group

Goals

  • Demonstrate why additional parks and sidewalks are needed to help community members exercise safely outside

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • City planners, school board members, local clinicians

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

  • A lack of exercise is a well known risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. The community group could use the reports to highlight zip codes that have high rates of diabetes. The group could then use the Action plan to create a detailed plan that clearly describes the steps needed to successfully create additional parks and build sidewalks to help community members exercise safely outside.
  • An additional tool that may be useful is the We All Count Funding Web can be used to:
    • Provide information to all project members
    • Provide transparency to the audience when it comes to reporting
    • Identify power gaps and imbalances

Related Policy

The community group looks for funding opportunities to support for additional parks and sidewalks

Outcomes

  • The community group uses local data to show how living conditions impact health outcomes

Community Health Workers (CHWs)

Goals

  • Gather local data to dig deeper into health trends they are seeing in the community

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Community leaders, organizations and members, health systems

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

  • CHWs have the power to help prioritize future efforts to improve health for the community. Using the data in both the Health Measure Summary Reports and Sociodemographic Profile Reports and examining the data in a framework, such as The Social-Ecological Model will help partners understand the complex relationship between an individual's health and the external environment. CHWs have a unique perspective as they are often working with community leaders, organizations, members, and health systems to lift up the needs of the community. Digging into the data and pairing that with testimony from community members can set them up to address a range of health and health equity issues

Related Policy

Outcomes

  • Community Health Workers use the reports to tailor their communication with patients, with more knowledge about the health outcomes affecting the communities they serve
  • CHWs bring a broader population health lens to the healthcare setting and help improve patient-provider communication

Health Department

Goals

  • Create the annual Community Health Assessment (CHA)
  • Learn more about the health of the population they serve
  • Add an additional data source on health outcomes and care to their process

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Community members, community organizations, health systems, policymakers

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

Related Policy

  • The health department adapts their organizational level policy on CHA’s to more effectively incorporate data in the CHA process and use it as a tool for shared understanding of the disparities of the health outcomes in their county

Outcomes

  • The health department includes data from NHP in their CHA, which will also inform their community health improvement plan

Master of Public Health Student

Goals

  • Explore data from NHP on women’s health screening measures in three counties in Wisconsin
  • Develop a surveillance report for her MPH capstone project
  • Identify best practices to improve screening rates from organizations working in high-performing ZIPs in the counties

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Clinics in the ZIP codes with high screening rates

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

Related Policy

  • The student drafts a legislative testimony in support of paid sick leave policies that would allow more people to take time off of work to get to medical appointments

Outcomes

  • The student reviews the NHP reports and presents a summary of the data in a surveillance report for her MPH capstone project
  • She conducts interviews with clinics in the ZIP codes with high screening rates and conducts a literature review to learn best practices to improve screening rates to include in the capstone report

Health System

Goals

  • Learn how many people in their service area do not have internet coverage
  • Increase existing telehealth programs to better serve their patients

NHP Data Used

Partnerships

  • Policymakers, businesses

Action Tool Activities to Support the Work

Related Policy

  • Advocate to local policymakers about advancing broadband coverage in their communities

Outcomes

  • They learn that three of the ZIP codes they serve have many people without internet coverage. They take this information into consideration when developing telehealth programming
    • Short-term: They will prioritize email, phone, and mail outreach to patients in those areas and offer transportation vouchers if needed
    • Long-term: They will work with local policymakers and businesses to advocate for improved broadband coverage in these areas