Community health centers and voucher programs throughout the country provide many different services to increase access to health care for underserved and vulnerable communities. These services, typically referred to as “enabling services,” are counted on the Uniform Data System (UDS) report in the form of clinic visits, patients, and full-time equivalent staff (FTE). However, there are also many enabling services, critical to communities’ ability to access health care, that are not being captured on the UDS. The following information highlights ways in which health center or voucher program administrators can begin tracking these crucial services, and how this additional information on enabling services can be used to benefit these health centers and voucher programs.
How to collect enabling service data not tracked on the UDS
1. Identify the Enabling Services: Identify the enabling service that your program provides and note what data is not reported on the UDS. Examples of data not reported on the UDS include: transportation service encounters, the number of clients whose first form of contact with the program was via an outreach worker, and the number of clients who participated in group education sessions in community spaces.
2. Collect Data on Enabling Services: Be consistent about collecting information on enabling services your program provides and the number of clients who rely on enabling services to access medical services. Start by collecting data on enabling services from every client by including questions about these services on patient encounter forms, outreach logs, and client registration forms. For example, to capture information about transportation enabling services, the following questions can be included on registration forms:
- a. Will you need transportation for future visits to our center? (yes/no)
- b. On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not likely and 5 being highly likely, how likely is it that you would be able to come to the to our center if no transportation were provided?
Using questions with quantitative responses, such as in the two questions listed above, is an effective way to being to measure the value of an enabling service.
3. Analyze Data on Enabling Services: Analyze the data you collect. If your health center or program uses commercial data entry software, your vendor or information systems manager should be able to set up additional collection fields and reports to track data on enabling services. In addition, most spreadsheet, database, and statistical software, such as Excel, Access, and SPSS can be used to track data.
4. Ask clients how they found out about your health center or program: Collect information on how clients learned about your health center or program. Was it through an outreach worker? Did they learn about your program through a health education session held at the health center? A couple of additional questions on intake forms or encounter forms can help collect this information. For example:
Q1. Is this your first time being seen at our health center?
a __Yes
b __No
Q2. If this is your first time being seen our health center, how did you find out about us?
a __Outreach worker who spoke with me at the library
b __Advertisement at the community center
c __Group education session on hypertension
d Other, please indicate: ________________________
5. Measure the Value of Enabling Services: Consider the value of enabling services in terms of prevention or treatment. For example, there are potentially immense savings to the health care system when clients receive preventative care and are treated in primary care clinics instead of in emergency care. Work with a consultant or solicit graduate students to help research and document costs of emergency care for health conditions your program addresses through health education, outreach, and early intervention. Compare the cost of emergency care to the cost of enabling services your program provides.
Uses of the enabling service information you collect
1. Collaborate with other health centers or programs to develop standard questions for tracking enabling services. Use these standardized questions at each center or program and produce an aggregate report of the data you collect. Send the report to the Bureau of Primary Health Care and any other funding sources your centers or programs share. This information can be used to substantiate the need for continued funding for health care enabling services.
2. Provide the information to state, local, and private funders in grant progress reports.
3. Use the data to support applications for new or continued funding.
4. Apply the information in internal planning and evaluation of services within your health center or program.
5. Raise the level of community awareness and support for enabling services. Collaborate with partner organizations in your community to expand your enabling services to reach more clients. For example, invite community service organizations to conduct outreach with your outreach program.