By DJ King, Principal at Altitude Ventures and TN HIMSS Advocacy Committee Member
On September 26, TN HIMSS joined state and local leaders for the unveiling of Nashville Health’s 2019 Nashville Community Health and Well-being Survey. This is the first assessment of its kind conducted in nearly 20 years, providing both immediately actionable insights and raw data for future research.
This year’s theme for U.S. National Health IT Week is Supporting Healthy Communities. Throughout this week of September 23 – 27, TN HIMSS has partnered with organizations to advance community health through the power of information, technology, and health system reform. Friday’s #NHITweek focus is on the fifth pillar of Addressing Social Determinants of Health. Much of what affects our health and wellness is “upstream” and extends beyond medical issues. In fact, up to 80% of our health is affected by factors external to the health system. In order to improve our health ecosystem and support healthy communities, we must also support these underlying social needs, particularly in underserved communities.
Addressing social determinantsis a truly collaborative effort. This was very evident at the 2019 Nashville Community Health and Well-being Survey unveiling as local, state, non-profit and for-profit organizations from across TN came together to ask questions and gain insights. Nashville Health did an incredible job over the last year collecting high-quality data and distributing key findings. The greatest opportunity, however, lies ahead as they prepare to make available raw survey data from the 1,805 respondents targeted by the University of Illinois at Chicago Survey Research Laboratory. This will allow individuals, researchers, and organizations to draw new insights from this data for years to come.
TN HIMSS and its members are at the forefront of leveraging information and technology to advance our healthcare system. Nashville Health recognized TN HIMSS from the podium for this very reason, which is both an honor and a challenge for us to keep working to support healthy communities.
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