Improving Health Outcomes: The Implementation of Race and Ethnicity Composite Values

This analysis provides insights into how a data assessment on race and ethnicity was used to develop a flexible de-identified person-level composite that provides data users with high-quality demographic information using data from two healthcare data systems in Maine: the Maine Health Data Organization’s All-Payer Claims Database (MHDO APCD) and MHDO’s Hospital Encounter Database. With a de-identified person-level composite that accurately captures how individuals self-identify, data users can perform analyses that identify strengths and areas of improvement for racially diverse populations to assist with efforts addressing health inequities.