LEO project manager, Shawna Kolka, participated in one of the panels at the Corporation for Supportive Housing's "Health and Housing Symposium" in Los Angeles, CA, on April 16, 2018. This was the third of a three part symposium in Los Angeles focusing on integrating and coordinating housing and health services for homeless and vulnerable populations in Los Angeles. Shawna spoke as part of the panel on data sharing, to an audience consisting primarily of representatives from nonprofit organizations, health care organizations, supportive housing providers, and Los Angeles County officials. These organizations are all involved in the implementation of a new county initiative to provide coordinated housing and health care for homeless individuals within LA County. Shawna provided examples of how data sharing is currently working in two health and housing evaluation projects in Anchorage, Alaska, and Santa Rosa, California, and also identified some common questions/challenges and potential solutions. She also shared her experience working on research projects that involve health data, as well as what she and her associates learned about doing research in the context of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines. She also talked about data sharing arrangements she had designed for projects with medical respite care for homeless patients in Alaska and California and best practices for working with confidential health data.
Click here to read more about the symposium!