This post is a summary of the linked case study below about State of TN Department of Health’s (TDH) implementation of Bonterra Impact Management (fka Apricot by Social Solutions Global, Inc.) for its Statewide MIECHV/Home Visiting programs. Sidekick Solutions was the contractor for initial implementation, configuration, data migration, and report design and development of the platform at TDH.

Background

The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) wanted to make data accessible and report on longitudinal change through Early Childhood Initiatives (ECI) in the Division of Family Health and Wellness (FHW).

ECI is the central administrator of the Healthy Families America (HFA) multi-site state system and manages several concurrent and complex relationships across three different evidence-based home visiting models, including Healthy Families America (HFA), Parents as Teachers (PAT), and Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), in 95 counties, with multiple local and federal funders.

Prior to the implementation of Bonterra Impact Management (fka Apricot software), home visitors, program directors, funders, and state agencies were entering data into Excel and Legacy systems and then pulling data manually in Excel reports, creating time-intensive tasks, duplication of efforts, and a lot of non-standard data. There was an urgent need to transition from these Legacy systems and fragmented reporting to a platform product with strong case management and compliance reporting capabilities.

ECI is using Bonterra Impact Management to drive innovation by creating a common data model for each of the three program models that allows the State to report across programs as well as within each evidence-based model. Both ECI and local implementing agency (LIA) users are now able to access and manipulate data directly, leading to more effectively connecting the dots between gaps in care and resources, needs and efficiencies, the quality of care and improved outcomes, language barriers, and much more.

Solution

Sidekick Solutions was the contractor responsible for initial implementation, configuration, data migration, and report design and development of the platform at TDH. Initial implementation included requirements discovery, design, configuration, user acceptance testing, and deployment services in collaboration with the TDH system administrators and program delivery stakeholders.

Sidekick Solutions was tasked with the following objectives.

• Transition from Legacy systems and fragmented reporting to a platform product with strong case management and compliance reporting capabilities
• Create a common data model for each of the three program models that allows the State to report across programs as well as within the evidence-based models, including stakeholder groups for:
  • State of Tennessee Department of Health IT
  • State of Tennessee Department of Health program managers
  • 15 funded agencies/providers
• Expand the ability for programs to have more control over their data, the data collection forms they use (add, removed, and change forms), and direct access to self-serve reporting tools

The solution required an implementation methodology to crosswalk the three evidence-based models for common data elements. Those become universal data elements (UDEs). UDEs are intended to capture the same data across each evidence-based model while allowing the unique models to conditionally apply specific data elements for outcomes reporting.

Sidekick Solutions used the full suite of customization tools in the Bonterra Impact Management (Apricot 360) platform, including back-end SQL functionality and conditional rules to integrate multiple programs and site/locations into a common data model. Designing a common data model in the platform ensures that a Bonterra Impact Management instance has a unifying schema rather than becoming a single database partitioned into multiple siloed databases.

From there, a multi-source staged data migration was required to pull .csv and SQL back-up files together into the common model from fragmented sources across multiple providers. Sidekick Solutions assisted in evaluating which data elements were required for contiguous reporting and which data elements could be archived as read-only.

Outcomes

• Platform actively supports 400 users across 15 agencies and reportable data collection across 120 forms
• Data migration moved data from disparate data sources and Legacy platforms to a single cloud solution in Bonterra Impact Management
• TDH supervisors and analysts can manage data in real time, allowing ECI to address service gaps quickly
• Intake forms, goal plans, and targeted variables can be configured for each program or each individual client within the platform
• Identified duplicate efforts in information collection among different LIAs
• Use of standardized data across all of the agencies, identifying which agencies serve the most people in the best ways
• Shared data elements across departments and programs allow for new service additions as well as as State-wide reporting
• Enable ECI staff to see how model requirements interact with funder requirements, and how they can merge and view the two within the platform