Charting a Course for an Equity-centered Public Health Data System
The Challenge
Public health data should reflect the needs of everyone in America—regardless of their race, where they live, or how much money they have. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the deficits of our public health infrastructure. When data are incomplete and inconsistent across state and local data collection systems, aren’t shared in a timely fashion or don’t capture vital race and ethnicity information, it’s impossible to understand the full impact of any crisis. For the best policy, we need the best data that captures the varying needs of our communities.
Recognizing the need for a modernized public health data system with an eye toward equity, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) established a first-of-its-kind National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems to reimagine how data are collected, shared and used and to identify what investments are needed to improve health equity. The commission examined both the systems and the data needed to ensure public health information works for all, including who the data we collect elevates, who is being centered in our data, who is being excluded and why. Ultimately, the commission offered recommendations on how to gather, share and effectively use data to inform equitable policies and practices at the local, state and national levels.
Our Approach
In early 2021, RWJF enlisted Burness to support the commission and all the major activities associated with the development and promotion of their recommendations. Burness guided the communication activities from the start, from supporting the announcement, to the commission deliberation meetings, to the final report in late 2021.
Since the report’s release, Burness has led a consistent cadence of communications activities tied to the commission recommendations and subsequent grantmaking by RWJF. The first phase of communications consisted of standing up the commission, developing consistent messages about what the group aimed to accomplish, preparing the materials that helped to inform the commission’s deliberations, providing meeting support and assisting in the development and design of the final report of recommendations. Burness also worked with the commission director on a Health Affairs blog to detail the commission’s goal—the highest performing blog in 2021.
In October, the final release of the report encompassed a wide-ranging communications effort that included message development, policymaker and partner outreach, and an aggressive media engagement strategy. Burness communications efforts included the development of summary and background materials, a website landing page housing all report materials, a press release, presentation slide decks and a rich communications toolkit for commissioners.
Since the report’s release in late 2021, Burness has worked closely with RWJF, commissioners and grantees—RWJF has continued to invest in projects aligned with the commission’s recommendations—to continue communications efforts around transforming public health data systems with a focus on equity. Burness communication efforts have been designed to sustain attention and momentum around the commission work, rallying audiences in and outside public health and informing policymakers at the local, state and federal levels.
Results and Impact
Burness’ comprehensive dissemination efforts of the final report and recommendations in 2021 included a virtual launch event, media and policymaker engagement, social promotion, topical webinars and more. The launch event, which took place virtually due to COVID-19, and involved the commission director and two commissioners, garnered attendance from more than 760 people of the more than 1,300 registrants, including reporters from U.S. News & World Report and KQED. Other attendees included state and local government officials and stakeholders from the private sector, nonprofits and academia. RWJF’s Alonzo Plough and Commission Director Gail Christopher also joined forces to moderate a panel discussion with several commissioners and other national leaders about the recommendations as part of APHA’s 2021 annual meeting. The dissemination strategy included robust social media activity promoting the webinar and the report.
Since 2021, as part of RWJF’s Transforming Public Health Data (TPHD) initiative, Burness has continued a steady drumbeat of activities, including conferences and presentations, media and policymaker engagement, journal articles and roundtable discussions, a robust social media strategy, as well as continued engagement with commissioners. Through Burness’ efforts, TPHD has had an annual presence at APHA’s annual meeting, organizing panels with commissioners and grantees focused on training a new generation of public health practitioners and researchers and the value of authentic community engagement in our public health data system.
Burness also led the development of a journal supplement informed by commission recommendations and published in the Big Data Journal and organized a series of four roundtable discussions with commissioners, grantees and experts in the field—published in the journals of Health Equity, Population Health Management, and Big Data. The success of the supplement—which garnered more than 3,000 downloads—and roundtables led to a follow-up roundtable in 2024 focused on data disaggregation and federal race and ethnicity data collection standards. Burness has also drafted and placed commentaries and op-eds in Public Health Reports, the Journal of Health Equity, the Journal of Population Health Management, The Hill, Health Affairs Forefront and more.
In 2023, in response to a call for public comments around a potential expansion of federal race and ethnicity standards by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Burness drafted and coordinated the submission of comments by RWJF President and CEO Richard Besser into the Federal Register and coordinated a listening session with RWJF and OMB’s Interagency Technical Working Group on Race & Ethnicity. When the revised standards were announced in 2024, Burness moved swiftly to amplify this positive step forward, including drafting a statement for the commission director, organizing two reporter webinars, coordinating a roundtable discussion featured in the Journal of Health Equity and tapping commissioners and grantees to socialize the news across a range of platforms.
Through a robust social media strategy, Burness has continued to disseminate commission and grantee work and elevate the commission recommendations, project ambassadors and commissioners. We have published a series of LinkedIn articles and profiles with commissioners and experts focused on topics ranging from the importance of asset-framing in public health data, to using public health data to bring environmental justice and health equity to Gulf Coast communities, to building a public health data system that shifts the narrative and amplifies community voice. Our targeted social media strategy has involved a variety of creative assets, such as audiograms, video clips and graphics, and has worked to amplify the profiles of TPHD thought leaders.
Throughout this multi-year effort, we’ve seen good media coverage, including mentions in NBC News, Governing, STAT, Stanford Social Innovation Review and more. Additionally, our announcement piece in Health Affairs was the most-read Health Affairs GrantWatch article in 2021. We have also seen success in media briefings—in 2021, we closed out the year with a media briefing with reporters about the need for an equity-centered public health data system. The webinar garnered attendance from 70 registrants, including reporters from The New York Times, Buzzfeed, Fast Company and more. A media briefing in April 2024, focused on OMB’s updated race and ethnicity standards, attracted registrations from more than 30 major outlets, including NPR, Bloomberg, NBC, CNN, AP and the Wall Street Journal. A May 2024 media briefing, conducted in collaboration with Ethnic Media Services, attracted nearly 50 outlets catering to diverse audiences, resulting in stories in Peninsula 360, Bayou Beat News, La Opinion, Chinese LA Daily News and more.
Building off the successful release and subsequent communications efforts, Burness is working to continue the momentum and promotion of the commission’s recommendations and related grantee work with a steady rhythm of activities, including webinars, conferences and speaking engagements, op-ed placements, media stories, journal articles and ongoing social media promotion.