A pair of budget trailer bills have authorized data-sharing projects involving the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The CDPH project, known as California Syndromic Surveillance (CalSyS), was authorized through Senate Bill 159, signed by the governor June 29. The project would see CDPH take on a “site administrator” role for the BioSense Platform, which is the data-sharing system from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Syndromic Surveillance Program.
BioSense collects data from emergency departments nationwide on a daily basis, allowing public health officials to see emerging trends in the spread of disease. According to the CDC, more than 6,900 health facilities contribute data to the system, including some 80 percent of emergency departments across the country.
But California lags behind. According to a March presentation from CDPH, only 24 percent of California’s eligible emergency departments participate in BioSense.
SB159 gave CDPH the legal authority to collect data from hospitals; it also requires hospitals with emergency departments to contribute that data to both CDPH and local health departments which run similar surveillance systems.
Similarly, Assembly Bill 161 authorized the Interagency Council on Homelessness to expand its data-sharing capabilities within the Homeless Data Integration System (HDIS). The governor signed AB161 July 2.
HDIS, which debuted in 2021, brings together data from the state’s 44 regional homelessness service coordinators known as Continuums of Care. The system offers broad, aggregated statistics publicly, such as the number of people receiving services from each continuum and their demographic information.
AB161 enables the Interagency Council on Homelessness to start sharing — on request — data on individuals, including personally identifiable information. Such data can be shared only with agencies and departments that are members of the council, and only for specific program-related purposes.
The aim is to measure point-in-time data and trends related to homelessness, including participation in state services such as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS) program. CalWORKS provides cash assistance and help with housing, food and other basic needs for families in poverty.
Budget Trailer Bills Authorize Data Sharing for Diseases, Homelessness
The bills, both signed by the governor, allow the California Department of Public Health and the Interagency Council on Homelessness to expand data sharing in their respective areas.
