Last Wednesday, 60 people from 16 CT health centers attended CHCACT’s full-day annual Uniform Data System (UDS) Training. Each year, all health centers in the country report on the same set of performance measures outlined by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the Uniform Data System. Measures include information on Patient Demographics, Financial Viability, Efficiency, and Quality of Care. (You can access all of CT’s UDS data here).

Christina Del Vecchio
Clinical Programs Coordinator

CHCACT partnered with JSI Research and Training Institute to provide the health centers with last week’s training on their 2017 UDS Data. Finance, clinical, quality, data analysis and other health center staff learned how to access their UDS reports, how to interpret the data, and how to use the data as a quality improvement tool. Health centers also were able to compare their performance with other health centers in the state and across the country.

During the training, participants had the opportunity to assess their organization’s capability to use and analyze data to improve patient outcomes. Participants then learned ways to improve their capability, including developing key roles and responsibilities for those who are responsible for collecting and analyzing the data, sharing the data with all health center staff, and building skills and knowledge around reporting and reviewing data.

In addition, health centers shared initiatives they are working on and discussed how data can be leveraged to achieve success in those initiatives. For example, health centers are using Community Health Workers to educate patients with chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes – towards improved health for them, as well as improved UDS measures. Participants also learned how to evaluate current initiatives they are working on to see what can be aligned and what needs to continue or be put on hold. Attendees learned the importance of using data throughout all activities at the health center rather than having too many initiatives and projects.

Thanks to OneDigital for sponsoring the lunch at the training!

For more information on UDS go to https://bphc.hrsa.gov/datareporting/reporting/index.html.