Leveraging Administrative Data to Better Serve Children and Families

Abstract

The challenge of complex social issues drives the need for data systems that can connect information across multiple service delivery systems. Integrated data systems provide significant value for needs assessment, program planning, policy decision making, and collective impact evaluation across a range of social issues. This case study describes a mature county-based integrated data system. The case study has three aims: (1) to highlight the value of integrated data systems to research, (2) to outline common challenges that such initiatives face, and (3) to present several ongoing considerations for the field that could inform policy recommendations to facilitate the use of integrated data. The authors present examples from the experience of developing this integrated data system, including involvement in the design and evaluation of the first county-level social impact bond. The case study highlights the benefits and limitations of integrated data use in research and the potential to advance evidence-based social decision making. Evidence for Practice• Integration of administrative data provides an opportunity to better understand the cross-system experiences and outcomes of those served. • Challenges to data integration include access to source data, maintaining data security, and the technical aspects of data linkage. • Regional data integration presents an opportunity to inform local decision making as it relates to understanding community needs and tracking the effects of interventions. Western Reserve University. She has been recognized as a leader in analyzing linked administrative records data to inform community development, public health, and human services strategies. Her research focuses on the effects of neighborhood and housing environments on family and child well-being.

Collaboration to combat COVID-19: policy responses and best practices in local integrated care settings

“…The results from the cases show the importance of using data and risk stratification methods for identifying and targeting populations at-risk (cf. Fischer et al, 2019). Having an inter-organizational data sharing architecture in place was a prerequisite for tailor-made approaches for newly-defined groups at risk with the existing and well-documented vulnerable population.…”

Public Assistance and Homeless Shelter Trajectories

“…We performed the linkage of HMIS records across systems on names and birth dates of individuals. We use Soundex, a phonetic indexing of name by sound, to compensate for some of the inconsistencies found in misspelled names and fuzzy matching on dates of birth accounts for common data entry errors (Fischer et al 2019).…”

“…Our population of interest consists of individuals entering emergency homeless shelter in Cuyahoga County, of which the City of Cleveland, Ohio, is part, between 2013 and 2017. We use an integrated longitudinal data system spanning more than 20 years of data to identify enrollment in public assistance (i.e., SNAP and TANF), and public housing use that precedes and follows homeless shelter use (Fischer et al 2019). The SNAP program provides food assistance for eligible low-income households that receive a monthly benefit allowing them to purchase groceries at local stores.…”

Smart Technology and the Emergence of Algorithmic Bureaucracy: Artificial Intelligence in UK Local Authorities

“…In the UK, with austerity and digital strategies, local authorities are looking for efficiencies using technology and there are diverse approaches across the country (Bright et al 2019; Dencik et al 2018; Symons 2016). Whilst some comment on the persistent challenges that local authorities face (Fischer et al 2019; Malomo and Sena 2017), there appear to be examples where local authorities are charting a new course through the use of smart technologies. Despite this renewed interest, some of the best publicly available data on government technological change is focused on outward‐facing e‐service delivery (UN 2018), rather than on how technology can transform work internally across the organization.…”