HRSA programs provide equitable health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) administers programs, supports research, and invests in workforce training to ensure the health and well-being of mothers, children, and families across their lives. MCHB’s Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services (DHSPS) aims to reduce the rates of infant death and promote positive maternal and women’s health outcomes; has a special focus on reducing the differences in rates of death between racial and ethnic groups; and directs interventions before, during, and after pregnancy to support healthy moms and babies. Via the Healthy Start program, DHSPS invests in communities with infant mortality rates that are at least one and a half times the U.S. national average to provide direct health care services, services that increase access to health care and improve health outcomes, public health services, and provider and community training.
The Healthy Start program administers grants to 101 organizations across 35 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in communities with significant health inequities. While much of the program data is captured via data systems designed to monitor project performance, Healthy Start grantees also submit progress reports annually in a narrative format, which provide federal staff with rich details of the work conducted over the year including descriptions of unique or innovative approaches to public health problems; use of evidence-based programs; and information about the conditions (e.g., structural and social determinants of health) and contextual factors (e.g., local policies and resources) influencing community outcomes.
These reports are typically reviewed for grants management purposes then filed away, but we would like to optimize use of the information contained within them to better summarize the breadth of work conducted by the Healthy Start grantees, to use in case studies of grantee successes focusing on specific topics, or to respond quickly to inquiries from Congress or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Discovery Team will develop classifiers to analyze grantee progress reports, apply data science approaches to mine relevant data, and develop a process that may be implemented by others in the following years’ report submissions. This effort will enable the federal project team to better determine associations between grantee activities and outcomes, as well as more easily highlight and share details about the work of the Healthy Start grantees in addressing health equity.