To chart a course for an equity-centered data system, RWJF convened a National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems and invested $9.75 million to kickstart the initiative. The Commission was informed by a background analysis and four white papers developed by the RAND Corporation and findings from a portfolio of quick-strike grants to support and catalyze action. RWJF released recommendations from the National Commission in October 2021 and committed $50 million in additional funding for a range of projects to advance a more equitable public health data system. In December 2021, RWJF commissioned Mathematica to lead a large-scale evaluation of RWJF’s investments in the transformation of public-health and health-related data systems to improve health equity at national, state, and local levels.

The TPHD evaluation presents an opportunity to contribute to more equitable and effective public health data systems and foster a collaborative and equitable ecosystem of public health. RWJF’s goals through this initiative are to tackle root causes and dismantle the systemic and structural causes that negatively affect not only public health data systems, but also decision-making and practices regarding what data is needed; how it should be collected, analyzed, and interpreted; and who should have access to it. This is also an opportunity to advance emerging ways of working at RWJF, including efforts to bring an equity orientation to its actions, decisions, evaluation partnerships, and community engagement.

Together with RWJF, community members, community representatives, and funded partners, Mathematica will co-develop and refine research questions and data collection and analysis activities to guide the evaluation. In addition to the broader evaluation, they will conduct in-depth case studies of the three largest grants in the portfolio. The team will work with funded partners and community representatives to co-create evaluation rubrics and develop frameworks that reflect initiative priorities and needs of partners and affected communities. Through methods well-suited for complex and dynamic contexts (including outcomes harvesting and mapping), the team will assess implementation, outcomes, and perceived impacts from perspectives of partners and others affected by the initiative.

The two-phase evaluation of TPHD will include:

1. A retrospective assessment of RWJF’s efforts to lay the groundwork for the initiative. The goal is to explore RWJF’s overall strategy and approach, with a focus on equity in process, design, and implementation from inception through implementation of the National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems.
2. A prospective evaluation of the implementation, outcomes, and perceived impacts of the TPHD initiative and portfolio of grants. Over the course of the initiative, the objective is to assess progress in relation to the Commission’s recommendations and the broad goal of transforming public health data systems.