The introduction of electronic health systems has led to easier collation, compilation, and analysis of data as well as easier access. For data to be put to be impactful use, it must be shared both for research and decision making purposes. Data sharing and release should neither compromise privacy nor lead to wrong conclusions. The need to share information that guides policies and decision making should be balanced with the need for the data to be reliable. The aim was to produce a data release policy to be used as a baseline tool to guide the practice of data release and sharing across programs and with outside requesters.
Objective
To describe the process of producing a universal data release policy for use by different programs in a state health department.