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H2020Individual fellowship2018–2020

BAHCI · Bringing a health claim to information: Measuring the impact of health data on the health outcomes of European citizens

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2018-08-01 → 2020-07-31
EU contribution
€172,800
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

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Results in brief

Bringing a health claim to information: Measuring the impact of health data on the health outcomes of European citizens

National health information (HI) systems provide data on population health, the determinants of health and health system performance within countries. The evaluation of these systems has traditionally focused on statistical practices and procedures, and not on data use or reuse for policy and practice. This limits the capacity to assess the impact of HI systems on healthcare provision, management and policy-making. BAHCI which was hosted at Sciensano, the Belgian Public Health Institute ultimately aimed to strengthen the impact of national HIS in policy and practice. This relied on a better understanding of the mechanisms that underpin knowledge translation, evidence-informed decision making, and stakeholder engagement. By looking at measuring the exploitation of health data in policy and practice, this research addressed an important knowledge gap in EU-HIS evaluation. The main objectives of BAHCI were to provide 1) a methodology to monitor the impact of HIS (health information systems) in policy and practice, the "Health Information-Impact framework" and 2) a tool to monitor uptake of HI by stakeholders, the “Health Information (HI)-Impact Index”. Moreover, EU-MS have limited visibility on the extent to which new types of data sources can inform routine (public) health surveillance activities and policy development. Our research has also specifically addressed this issue by examining the use of data linkage, artificial intelligence, and next-generation-sequencing in routine health monitoring activities, in policy development and clinical practice.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

European Union Members States (EU-MS) share similar levels of development and access to care. Yet, key population health indicators vary widely across countries. The societal burden of these inequalities is high, and leveraging evidence to achieve better health outcomes is a priority. Within countries, Health Information Systems (HIS) are the cornerstone of public health interventions. In Europe however, health surveillance data are fragmented: EU-MS report different items to different international data collection exercises; there is variation between countries with regard to the amount of data collected, how it is generated, and its quality; and there are gaps in information. Whereas we have good mortality data, we are weak on morbidity data, on the quality of care for chronic conditions, and on evaluating patients’ experiences of disease. Overall, there is heterogeneity in the level of evidence that can be used by key stakeholders and in specific health-domains; and we do not know the extent to which differences in health information (HI) capacity might influence on the population burden of disease. This post-doctoral project aims to provide a “HI Impact Index” that could be used by EU public health agencies and policy planners to measure the uptake of evidence into policies and care, and ultimately their impact on population health overall and in priority areas for Europe: maternal and child health, chronic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, injury prevention, and patient reported outcomes and experiences. The research will be hosted at the Belgian Federal Research Institute for Public Health under the supervision of Professor Herman Van Oyen, coordinator of the upcoming European Joint Action on Health Information. This MSCA project is a unique opportunity for me to consolidate my credentials as a European public health researcher and expand my career possibilities beyond the perinatal health field.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • SCIENSANO · ELSENECoordinatorBelgium

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union