The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) gets its data by partnering with several organizations like government departments. For example, SAMHSA partners with the National Center for Health Statistics to avail safe access to protected information. The limited information including secret macro-data is availed to accredited researchers by SAMHSA through the use of Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (RDCs). On the SAMHSA website, the most eye-catching topic is Serious Mental Illness and Opioids (SAMHSA, n.d). The main questions that this paper attempts to examine are whether the data in these topics is available for decision making, and how effectively this data is understood by the general public.
On the serious mental illness site, SAMHA acknowledges that mental diseases are a huge challenge to public healthcare and also a problem for patients in getting medical care. It is interesting to examine how the data provided on the website is relevant in solving access to mental healthcare services. A look at some of the data contained on the website such as the P-Value Tables and estimated totals per state prove that they are difficult to understand since they are raw data presented in excel format. As such, they may not be helpful to an ordinary citizen though significant to a researcher. Additionally, no analysis is done, and, therefore, conclusions cannot be made from the data. This may reduce the effectiveness of understanding to the general public. Thus, it may not help tackle the problem of people with mental illness to access healthcare services. According to SAMHSA (n.d) , most of the data is used to test null hypotheses for researchers. This is additional proof that it may not be consumed directly by the ordinary citizen.
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However, the data may be useful to organizations such as the federal state and learning institutions in making policies that may help in the improvement of medical care for the mentally ill and those affected by drugs and substance abuse. For example, the data might be helpful to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which measures the use of illegal drugs and issues surrounding mental disorders in the American population. The reports are multi-sectional such as mental illness per age as well as drug abuse per age and state. Other areas include treatment levels per age and state and prevalence levels among other factors. However, what is surprising is that most of these reports are availed in statistical formats through excel files making it hard to comprehend for the general public.
The Department of Health and Human Services is tasked with the provision of data relating to some areas in the healthcare sector. Some of the areas that the department provides data about are Medicare, Medicaid, social services, drug abuse, and mental illness. The source of this data is mostly from other state agencies and partnerships with organizations in the healthcare sector. Some of the agencies that provide this data include the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. (HealthData.gov, n.d). The data collected forms a cornerstone for the provision of health care services by aiding in planning and other decision-making processes. While the sharing of data is highly encouraged due to its importance in improving healthcare services, it is prudent that it be well protected from misuse. In ensuring this, several laws have been put in place to aid in the sharing of electronic healthcare data. Furthermore, federal regulations have been set to guide how this data is shared through health information technology. One of the Acts is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as indicated by Ramanathan and others in 2015 . Privacy laws are also applied in the sharing of information to ensure that the privacy of individuals is protected according to the law.
Therefore, high quality and adequate data in the medical field are vital in ensuring medical services are provided adequately. Data in the medical sector helps plan for medical care services as well as policy-making by different stakeholders. A look at the SAMHSA website reveals that a lot of data is available but may not be directly consumed by the general public due to the difficulty in its understanding. However, the data may help organizations and research bodies, which after using it make it available to the general public. There are also data protection concerns, but the government puts in place adequate laws that guide the sharing and use of medical data.
References
HealthData.gov, (n.d). Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from https://healthdata.gov/group/department-health-human-services
Ramanathan, T., Schmit, C. Menon, A. & Channel Fox. (2015). The Role of Law in Supporting Secondary Uses of Electronic Health Information. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687394/
SAMHSA, (n.d). SAMHSA data and dissemination. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/
