How Data-Sharing with Other Systems Improves Access to Care and Advance Health Equity

In 2019, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) released a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data matching policy brief outlines the reasons and methods for matching health system data with Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data. Building on that work, CSH and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) led two focus groups at NHCHC’s October 2019 Summit in Nashville. This report includes observations and background on the homeless services system, its data collection infrastructure, and recommendations on how to establish and improve relationships with other sectors within a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) context. This guidance will help health centers evaluate and make decisions regarding data collection, utilization, and sharing to improve health outcomes for vulnerable patients.