The South Carolina Primary Health Care Association (SCPHCA) is embarking on a program that will have substantial implications for itself and its members, the Community Health Centers of South Carolina.  It has engaged the Office of Research & Statistics (ORS) to pull all of the CHC data into one system creating a comprehensive data system of patients served by the CHCs.
The goal of this partnership is to improve the healthcare and well-being of those persons served by the CHCs through data collection and integration.  This goal can be achieved through the building of a data warehouse comprised of CHC data for the SCPHCA.  Data integration can take the SCPHCA and its members far beyond the knowledge that resides in each Center, both in understanding patients’ needs and in evaluating the success of the services rendered. 
  The benefits of the DAC includes market, trend and comparative analyses; the ability to fulfill federal reporting requirements; and additional data linkages within the ORS.

1. Market Analysis – Geocoding patients’ addresses in relation to the center’s location, thereby creating a distance variable, can help the CHCs to better understand patient origination and any barriers to access in their market area. 
2. Trend Analysis – Basic demographic and diagnostic information can be run over time for trending purposes.
3. Comparative Analysis – Customized reports prepared by the ORS can compare one center with one or more other centers without identifying the comparison groups.
4. Required Reporting – Most of the burden of Federal reporting requirements can be shifted from the CHC to the ORS.
5. Data Linkage – Linking the CHCs data with the SC data warehouse may be the benefit with the most potential.

The current data warehouse includes information from several functional areas:  (1) health services, (2) social services, (3) mental health, (4) disabilities, (5) alcohol and drug abuse programs, (6) education, etc.  Information on hospitalizations, emergency room utilization, outpatient or ambulatory surgeries, and home health provide a comprehensive examination into health service utilization. 
Characteristics that have relevance to understanding and evaluating the outcomes of clients served by participating Centers will be defined by staff from the SCPHCA, participating Centers and ORS.  These will include, but are not limited to, demographics, socioeconomics, hospitalization and ER usage, social service and health agency service utilization.  Elements from the following databases can include: all-payer inpatient hospitalization and ER visits; Department of Social Services (DSS) programs which include food stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS); Department of Mental Health (DMH); Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and the Department of Education (DOE). 
The population of interest consists of clients of the Community Health Centers. Maximum flexibility exists for participating CHCs to examine outcomes and evaluate programs; e.g., users will be interested in their clients and comparing treatment, cost and disease patterns among the various Centers; utilization rates of clients of other health care facilities or service agencies; sub-population indicators for a variety of programs (TANF, food stamps, abused/neglected and foster children).  More specifically:

1. Hospitalizations and ED Visits
1. Examine utilization rates; diagnoses, procedures, outcomes
2. Look at the broader scope of clients health care utilization
3. Enhance the Chronic Disease Collaboration
2. DAODAS
1. Examine the outcomes of clients with drug and/or alcohol abuse issues
2. Determine percentage of CHCs client base with drug and/or alcohol abuse issues
3. Department of Juvenile Justice
1. Gain a better understanding of health factors and behavior for young clients referred to the DJJ. 
4. Department of Mental Health
1. Gain a better understanding of health factors and mental health for clients referred to the DMH. 
2. Enhance coordination of services between Centers that provide mental and behavioral counseling and DMH
3. Determine percentage of CHCs client base with mental and behavioral health issues
5. Department of Education
1. Understand how young clients perform in schools based on PACT scores and school readiness scores (upon agreement with DOE)
2. Relate success and failure to health data providing the potential to better understand the role of health in education performance

Not only can the data warehouse provide answers to far-reaching questions and studies as written above, the analyses and reports are invaluable when applying for grants, doing research, making policy decisions.  Linking the CHC data to the various data systems gives the SCPHCA and its members the ability to expand its services currently offered to better serve the CHC clients. 
Inclusion in the data warehouse can also foster relationships with other state agencies, non-profit organizations and private providers.  Such relationships would open up opportunities for grants, research, special studies and partnerships that would only further help improve the health and well-being of South Carolina’s citizenry. 
The SC data warehouse is a powerful system that has the potential to touch the lives of all of South Carolina’s citizens.  By participating in the data warehouse the SCPHCA and it CHC members can better understand their clients and communities and provide enhanced quality health care to those clients and communities.

For additional information on the SCPHCA DAC, please contact Kelvin J. Curry at kelvinc@scphca.org or (803)788-2778 Ext. 218.

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