Two States Showcase Effective Data Sharing
Of course, data sharing is not a radical idea, nor is it anything new. For example, Pennsylvania became a pioneer when it launched its prescription assistance program for older Pennsylvanians in 1984. To facilitate enrollment, officials looked to the state’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program, which had enrollment criteria similar to its prescription assistance program. They then used that list to fuel outreach and signed up roughly 389,000 older Pennsylvanians by the end of the first year.
Pennsylvania then followed up on its success. The program has leveraged 16 lists from other programs and agencies, including the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Department of Revenue and Department of Agriculture. BDT has worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Aging to enroll about 240,000 people using data sharing since 2005.
Similar stories can be found across the country. In South Carolina, the state’s Department of Social Services matches Medicaid and SNAP lists monthly to identify those not taking advantage of SNAP. A partnership with BDT to reach out to those individuals has generated 20,000 SNAP enrollments since 2015.
LEARN MORE: How states are upgrading systems to provide citizen services.
Common Challenges Include Legal Hurdles, Tech Mismatch
As many states have found, state and local governments can use data to break down programmatic silos, administrative barriers and other obstacles that block access to assistance.
While data sharing is a simple concept, execution is often more complicated. Legal hurdles, data and technology differences between agencies, and a lack of resources are common challenges. Yet, as BDT has repeatedly seen, almost every jurisdiction can take steps toward data sharing. It’s important to note the entryway to any data-sharing project is a fundamental question: Does the law permit data sharing for this specific circumstance?
BDT recently released a 100-page data-sharing playbook that provides key context on how to answer this question and navigate the legal process surrounding data sharing. It also offers recommendations, case studies and templates.