The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) wants to increase transparency and better health-care outcomes through data, according to its latest strategic plan.
This summer, the agency added maternal and infant health dashboards to its suite of public-facing data visualizations and last year added fentanyl trends and seasonal respiratory viruses.
“These new dashboards are part of DSHS’s ongoing work to share the important public health data we have more widely and in a more user-friendly format,” said Commissioner Jennifer Shuford in a news release. “Our goal is to allow researchers, policymakers and the public to join us in using this data to improve health in Texas.”
The agency wants to continue to increase transparency with more ways to share and visualize data as part of its strategy to impact health outcomes across the state, the 2025-29 strategic plan says.
Two of its action items are to improve health data modernization and to standardize data sharing. These include adding 30 local health entities and three data sets to its State Health Analytics and Reporting Platform. The agency will also create a public health data strategy by 2028.
DSHS’ legislative appropriations for 2024-25 include $33.9 million for agencywide IT projects, $24.8 million for IT program support and a capital IT budget of $12.3 million.
DSHS is responsible for state-operated health-care services and programs including hospitals, disease prevention, emergency medical services, mental health services, health-care professional licensing and vital statistics.
Data Sharing Top of Mind for Department of State Health Services
DSHS has consistently added data visualizations to its website and plans to follow this trend in part through modernization and standardization.
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