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Interoperability and Data Sharing View all reports on this topic

Topic Overview

This portfolio promotes data sharing and collaboration to enable data-driven service delivery and program administration. Examples include:

  • interoperability initiatives to adopt common standards and practices;
  • efforts to streamline eligibility determination and enrollment across multiple programs;
  • identification of improper payments and prevention of waste, fraud and abuse; and
  • coordination of federal financial support across complex data systems involving multiple programs.

Projects focus on data sharing both within and across programs, as exemplified by states’ implementation of Integrated Data Systems (IDS) and Eligibility and Enrollment (E&E) systems. Supports include providing direct technical assistance, development of toolkits and other guides, promoting data standardization and architecture, and coordination of federal resources and support.

See the OPRE project pages below for more information:

Projects on this Topic

  • ACF Interoperability Initiative

    The ACF Interoperability Initiative provides leadership and technical support to increase the capacity and efficiency of social service data systems to share data in a consistent, reliable manner. These efforts include creating common vocabularies for more consistent capture of data, providing best practices for interoperability architecture planning and system integration, and understanding and mitigating risks associated with the privacy and confidentiality of the...

  • ACF Program Guidance on Sharing Administrative Data

    Individual ACF programs have developed informational memoranda for states on data sharing across social service systems...

  • Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families, 2018 - 2021

    Project Overview

    Through this project, awarded to Mathematica Policy Research, ACF seeks to learn more about how states and communities coordinate early care and education, family economic security, and/or other health and human services to most efficiently and effectively serve the needs...

  • Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) Evaluation, 2014-2021

    There is great interest in identifying effective strategies that build fathers’ capacity to support their children, both emotionally and financially. Since 2006, Congress has provided funds for discretionary grants to programs aimed at supporting fathers in three core areas....

  • Early Care and Education Data Archive, 2018 - 2023

    Project Overview

    The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) funds numerous data collection efforts through research studies on a wide-range...

  • Improving Use of Administrative Data, 2018-2019

    Project Overview

    The purpose of this project is to develop recommendations and strategies that ACF can pursue to increase data accessibility...

  • Multi-Program Advance Planning and Data Systems

    Many states operate large and complex administrative data systems that include information from multiple programs. Federal dollars to support such systems must be allocated across programs. When such systems include two or more of the following HHS programs, requests for funding approval must be submitted to the State Systems Coordinator (SSC) for HHS...

  • Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS)

    PARIS is a data service for states to match the records of recipients of public assistance to check if they receive duplicate benefits in two or more states. PARIS matches help identify improper payments and minimize fraud and abuse. Participating PARIS programs include: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Worker’s Compensation...

  • State Medicaid and Child Welfare Data Linkages for Outcomes Research, 2019 - 2021

    This project is a partnership between the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). It is funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Trust Fund. A contract to support this work will be awarded in September 2019.

    HHS will work with two to four states to...