Oregon Community Health Integrated Data Systems Project (ORCHIDS)

Matthew Carlson, Principal Investigator (Portland State subcontract)
Carlsonm@pdx.edu

Olivia Thomas, co-Investigator (Portland State subcontract)
Thomaso@pdx.edu

Sponsor: National Library of Medicine IAIMS Planning Grant through the Oregon Community Information Network, Mike Leahy, Principal Investigator

Over one million Oregonians, or a quarter of the State’s population, are on Medicaid or are uninsured.  These patients are served by an array of public and private health care providers who represent the Healthcare Safety Net to Oregon’s poor, vulnerable, and medically indigent populations.  Available information on the Safety Net is fragmented and provides an incomplete and often outdated picture about patient needs and the providers who care for them. This project is the first phase of the Oregon Community Health Integrated Data Systems (ORCHIDS) Project to develop a comprehensive, written plan for the development and implementation of a unique knowledge bank and portal to information on the Healthcare Safety Net. The primary goals of the ORCHIDS Project are to:

1. Create a framework and the tools to link disparate sources of safety net data.
2. Provide configurable, context-sensitive information to policy makers, administrators, clinicians, researchers, and the public.
3. Encourage and support communication among the safety net stakeholders.
4. Develop a digital repository as a framework for information management.

The project will first be planned and implemented in the Portland Metropolitan Area, which includes three Oregon counties and Clark County in Southern Washington.  Eventually, this will lead to an Oregon-statewide information system. The project will leverage existing data sets to provide meaningful data in a limited domain, while designing an implementation model that will support the inclusion of additional data sources as they become available. 

A growing number of key collaborators have been assembled including OCHIN, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Center for Health and Social Inequality Research at Portland State University, Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research, Tri-County Safety Net Enterprise, CareOregon, Office of Medical Assistance Programs, and Oregon Department  of Human Services’ Health Systems Planning Office. Building on previous work done by these organizations, the proposed planning process will identify and involve all significant stakeholders.  Previous efforts have identified specific needs, catalogued data sources, and identified gaps in the understanding of, and information, about the safety net. The specific aims for the project include:

1. Conduct a needs analysis of the data and information needs of policy makers, health care administrators, clinicians, researchers and the public in order to identify the kinds of information each group needs and how that information can best be presented to facilitate its effective use.
2. Identify current information management practices essential to planning for the development of tools for linking these disparate data sets.
3. Create a strategy for a) the development of decision support tools capable of providing context-appropriate information; b) the management of the information in the digital repository; and c) communication among the various stakeholders.

 

The ORCHIDS plan will address the needs for better data and reporting about access to and the need for services; quality of care; and the financial strengths and weaknesses of provider organizations. The participating organizations have committed to provide in-kind support as well as to assist in securing funding to operationalize the plan, once developed. This project is key to meeting Oregon’s health care needs and will provide a nationally significant model of how a community can organize itself to meet the information management needs necessary to provide affordable, quality care to vulnerable, high-risk, and medically indigent populations.