title: Community health agency administrators' access to public health data for program planning, evaluation, and grant preparation.
abstract: The Affordable Care Act mandates that public health data be made available for community agency use. Having access to such data allows community agencies to tailor interventions, evaluations, and funding requests more effectively. This study, jointly undertaken by Syracuse University faculty and students with the New York State Perinatal Association, sought to understand community agencies' access to requests for governmental data, as well as to identify areas for improving data access. Results from this survey of administrators from 43 agencies in New York State found that only one-half of their requests for data were successful. Difficulties in obtaining access to needed data included fiscal and staffing constraints of the state-level agencies that house the data, as well as possible overinterpretation of confidentiality policies. In addition, some of community agency respondents reported that their staff lacked skills in data analysis and would benefit from training in epidemiology and quantitative evaluation.
authors.affiliation: a David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics , Syracuse University , Syracuse , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Sandra D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.affiliation: b Center for Public Health Continuing Education, School of Public Health , University at Albany, SUNY , Albany , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Cashman
authors.affiliation: c School of Social Work , University at Buffalo, SUNY , Buffalo , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Keefe
authors.affiliation: a David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics , Syracuse University , Syracuse , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Lutchmie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Narine
authors.affiliation: a David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics , Syracuse University , Syracuse , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Bradford
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ducre
authors.affiliation: d Executive Director, Mothers & Babies Perinatal Network , Binghamton , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chesna
authors.affiliation: a David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics , Syracuse University , Syracuse , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Meghan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: e Department of Internal Medicine , Naval Medical Center of Portsmouth , Portsmouth , Virginia , USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oliver
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000379:methods; D006270:Health Facility Administrators; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods*; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities
keywords: Community health; health administrators; program evaluation; university–community collaboration