Linking data across public systems is beneficial for a multitude of reasons including care coordination, improving research on populations engaged with multiple public services, and improving program integrity. The Child Welfare Health Infrastructure for Linking and Data Analysis of Resources, Effectiveness, and Needs (CHILDREN) Initiative is a five-year project assisting states and local jurisdictions with linking child welfare and Medicaid data to improve their data infrastructure and service systems. The aim of this brief is to provide information to states and local jurisdictions interested in data linking efforts about how to build teams to support data linking efforts. The key points of this brief include:
- Data linking across child welfare and Medicaid systems has substantial benefits including improving program integrity, identifying unmet needs of children and families, and supporting research and evaluation.
- Data linking efforts require cross agency collaborations, firm understandings of legal authority to link data, and dedicated resources to build data infrastructures.
- Meeting jurisdictions "where they are" by collaborating with jurisdictions' child welfare and Medicaid agencies to identify analytic use cases that meet their collective needs helps ensure a high level of buy-in for developing a linked data infrastructure.
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Related Products:
- Project Update: Child Welfare and Health Infrastructure for Linking and Data Analysis of Resources, Effectiveness, and Needs (CHILDREN) Initiative
- Improving Services for Children and Families through Linked Child Welfare and Medicaid Data
- Advancing Research on Intersections of Child Welfare and Medicaid Using Linked Data from the CCOULD Project