HEALTHeLINK HIE Launches Dashboard for Community Health

HEALTHeLINK, a health information exchange (HIE) serving Western New York, has launched a dashboard to support community health.

The HEALTHeWNY Dashboard allows users to search data at a county and zip code level, providing detailed insights into health in the region. The system can also filter data by specific health outcomes, demographics, and more.

“The launch of the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard is a significant next step in HEALTHeLINK’s commitment to improving the health and well-being of our community by using data to inform a variety of health-related decisions,” Dan Porreca, HEALTHeLINK president and CEO, said in a press release. 

“Instead of anecdotal observations and conclusions, healthcare partners can utilize HEALTHeWNY to obtain real-time evidence and address where there are some of the greatest disparities, whether it’s a specific zip code, age, race, ethnicity, or gender,” Porreca added. “With limited resources, being able to address a disparity at that granular of a level only benefits our overall healthcare system.”

The dashboard contains de-identified data to safeguard patient privacy. Local health departments, community health organizations, healthcare providers, and policymakers can leverage the dashboard to inform decisions about health and wellness in their communities.

“Public health practitioners in New York State are fortunate to have easy access to county-level health data for community health improvement efforts, but as is often the case with these statewide datasets, there is a lag of two or more years,” said Breeanne Agett, MPH, public health consultant based in Chautauqua County.

“With the data available to us in recent years, we have been able to identify issues and develop plans, but we have lacked easily accessible, recent data to inform process measures,” Agett continued. “The HEALTHeWNY Dashboard helps to fill the gap and will improve the ability of public health entities to track progress toward meeting chronic disease prevention goals.”

For instance, using data from the dashboard, a local health department identified which towns in their county have the highest diabetes rates to direct resources where there is the most need.