440: Place-Based Metrics, Peer-to-Peer Data Discussions

ROBERT JOHNSON:  

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, June 13, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

BROOKE CUNNINGHAM:  

Minnesota is an increasingly diversifying state. We want to again make sure that everybody is represented.

ROBERT JOHNSON:  

Dr. Brooke Cunningham is Minnesota's health commissioner. She's thinking about new ways to accurately measure health equity.

CUNNINGHAM:  

We're really thinking about what our minimum data standards should be for ethnicity, for gender identity, and for disability status.

JOHNSON:  

Cunningham was part of a data equity discussion at ASTHO's TechXpo last month in Chicago. Much of her focus is on measurement using place-based metrics.

CUNNINGHAM:

Place-based metrics help us think about race differently because often the race effect is a place of effect. And when we think about place, and all the factors that shape where people live, and work, those are the factors that create the racialized outcomes that we see in our data.

JOHNSON:  

Cunningham says it's a next-level approach to understanding public health in communities.

CUNNINGHAM:

So, we've got to go beyond just sort of individual-level metrics of social determinants. So, income, education level -- very common social determinants -- really to more aggregate, community-based and again, place-based metrics for us to have the impact on health inequities that we all have been striving for. But it's been really hard for us to achieve in multiple sectors who really care about improving the health and well being of populations.

JOHNSON:  

You can hear from Dr. Cunningham in a new panel discussion at the virtual edition of ASTHO's Public Health TechXpo set for this Thursday, June 15 starting at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. Panelists will talk about the public health workforce, infrastructure, the CDCs Data Modernization Initiative, and more. You can sign up using the link in the show notes.

Whether you meet in person or online, there is value in real-time discussions about data and technology. ASTHO's Janet Hui tells us why in this conversation recorded last month at TechXpo in Chicago: 

JOHNSON:

Talking on the sidelines of TechXpo in Chicago, one of the issues that ASTHO is trying to promote is the idea of peer-to-peer exchange, bringing people together. Tell us why, in the context of data, informatics, all of this technology that we're talking about, why is it important for peers to get together?

JANET HUI:

Yeah, that's a great question. So, the space of data modernization and technology, it's always rapidly changing. There's so much new technology out there and public health agencies are trying to figure out how to apply it to their own agencies, to their public health challenges. So, a convening like TechXpo has been critical to bring peers together so that they can hear the latest and greatest in the space, talk with each other, and really cultivate that spirit of innovation and thinking about how to apply it to their daily, day- to-day lives.

JOHNSON:  

You've been involved in some of those exchanges. What are you hearing from people as they get together?

HUI:

Yeah, I think the greatest thing I've been hearing is a sense of optimism and looking towards the future. You know, as we come, we're coming at the end of a pandemic, people have been really thinking, you know, they've been really working on pandemic-related things, COVID-related things, and now people are shifting their attentions to, you know, the future. They're thinking about, "Well now have we missed any new funding, how do we modernize our systems? How do we take advantage of data? How do we innovate and really make our public health system greater?"

JOHNSON:  

If you come to an event like this from a department and you're engaged in one of these peer-to-peer exchanges, what's the value to you when you go home?

HUI:  

Yeah, so I think the greatest value is just hearing what your peers are doing. A lot of health agencies have so much great work happening, so many cutting edge projects, and you may not hear about them in your own health department. So, coming here, getting a sense of what others are doing, and then bringing it home to apply to your own context.

JOHNSON:  

It's definitely important because there's so much money now available for this kind of work. Does that come up as well?

HUI: 

Yes. So, people I've heard people say public health is typically feast or famine and we're entering what feels like a period of feast. So, there's funding available and folks are looking for ways to use it and to build their workforce, build their infrastructure, so folks are excited, and also a little apprehensive. It's a lot of funding, a lot of opportunity, and they're trying to be strategic about it.

JOHNSON:  

This time a year ago, you were supporting public health departments from a private sector perch, if you will. How is the topic, the subject matter different from this angle now being at ASTHO, helping members with the same sorts of issues?

HUI:  

Yeah, that's a great question. So previously, I was at a private company that was really focused on the technology. And now coming to the ASTHO space, I'm seeing kind of the problems from a broader lens. So not just thinking about how problems can be solved without technology, but like, what are the policies around it? What are the organizational things that are needed to make, you know, solve our challenges?

JOHNSON:  

Overall, your impression of everyone who has come to this TechXpo, the ones you've talked to, are they excited about what's coming?

HUI:  

Yes, I think so. Folks seem really rejuvenated and inspired by the plenaries. I think people are really, you know, starting to look towards the future thinking about vision and what they really want to do.

JOHNSON:  

Also, today, a group of public health executives is writing about the power of influence. O'keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER:  

Influence is an important skill for public health leaders to use to drive change and improve the health of their communities. It is a skill that takes time to develop, but it's worth the investment. In a new ASTHO blog article, Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health scholars share their thoughts on what it means to have influence as a leader. The link to the full blog article is located in the show notes.

JOHNSON:  

Finally, this morning, a new tool to help agencies identify measures for their suicide prevention programs is explained in an ASTHO webinar planned on June 26. ASTHO and the CDC created the tool. You can learn more about it in the webinar. Sign up using the link in the show notes.

That'll do it for today's newscast. I'll be on vacation through the end of June, but sitting in will be Janson Silvers, a familiar name to those of you we've interviewed over the last year. He's here tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. I'll see you in July.