APHSA Symposium 2019

• Analyses for the legislature and stakeholders, on enrollment trends, approvals and denials (e.g., missed interview), and benefit amounts. • Creating “Data Leads” within program offices who work on joint projects across programs, in partnership with a central data and research unit, to build data capacity and drive culture change. (Please see Appendix C-2 for slides.) Issues highlighted during the Q&A with panelists: • Master data-sharing agreements: in place of “Master Agreement” that covers sub-projects. • Data-sharing “Messenger”: staff don’t want to hear from “SiliconValley types”; they need to hear from their peers about the value of data-sharing. Panel 2: Change Management. The second panel discussed how to encourage data driven decision making in health and human services agencies and how to make the process stick. Presenters were Connor Norwood (Chief Data Officer, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration) and three officials from Fairfax County, Virginia (Ron Chavarro, Deputy Director, Department of Family Services; Kevin Filbey, Professional and Organizational Development Director; and John Ruthinoski, Senior Project Manager). Phil Basso fromAPHSA moderated the panel. Connor Norwood described the importance of agencies having a clear vision statement that ties the creation of an “insight driven culture” to improved health and well-being of citizens. Three key mantras are: (1) get people access to services as quickly as possible; (2) figure out what else they need; and (3) measure and report progress using data. To assess the current state of analytics and the obstacles to establishing a data-driven culture, Norwood engaged staff from both the “data” and “business” teams. Key obstacles identified by staff were lack of understanding about how to use analytics to improve services, lack of data analytics skills, difficulty in accessing data, concerns with the data, and a culture that does not encourage data sharing. His organization devised strategies to address these obstacles, including: • A data governance framework to ensure secure availability of high quality data for decision-making. A legislative change to assist inmates to apply for Medicaid prior to release provided a powerful use case for linking Corrections and Medicaid data. one-off data-sharing agreements that are slow and time-consuming to implement, CA has created a

• A data literacy strategy, modeled on the Federal Data Strategy 3 , which trains staff to use “data as a strategic asset.”

• Defining clear value propositions that align the business strategy. For example, based on data analysis, Indiana instituted a “carve-out” for Hepatitis-C virus medications fromMCO plans, saving $10K per member receiving medication each month. (Please see Appendix C-3 for slides.) The Fairfax County team described how their strategic vision and goals have driven progress. The vision states: “By 2020 we will address the root cause of our customers’ needs by integrating service at an optimal level to generate positive changes in the community.” Strategic goals are: (1) work together in partnership with the community ; (2) provide customized, responsive, and top-quality services to our diverse community; (3) cultivate an environment supportive of critical thinking, happiness, and opportunities for innovation ; and (4) encourage and support one another in our workforce to develop and maximize our talents and leadership skills. To address strategic goal number four, Fairfax County began hosting a “Data Analytics Fellowship Academy” (DAFA) in 2016 (based on a similar program in New Jersey’s child welfare agency). It teaches data analysis, business process, diagnostic and presentation skills, and has been a culture change catalyst. Classes of up to 25 staff (mostly practitioners) work in teams on real-time data analytics projects that inform agency decisions. Over ten months, Fellows attend workshops two days per month and have additional time dedicated to work on class projects in teams. They are trained to conduct quantitative analysis of client-level data in Excel spreadsheets, conduct literature reviews and qualitative analysis, perform business-process mapping (i.e., the steps to get from point A to point B), and integrate information to develop solutions. Teams present their findings and recommended solutions to agency leaders, staff and stakeholders for feedback and decisions. Each class generates 15 to 20 data-informed solutions that are tracked to measure the success of the program. The classes have wide-ranging benefits to the HHS system, the county agency, and clients. Trained fellows mentor other staff in problem-solving and data analysis. The presenters cited examples of policy and operational changes that have resulted from DAFA, including targeted outreach to reach individuals in need of additional services. (Please see Appendix C-4 for slides.)

3 Federal Data Strategy: Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset: https://strategy.data.gov

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APHSA H/HS Analytics Symposium for Action 2019