Data Exchange Gateway Connects California Community-Based Organizations

Stakeholders in California are working together on an interoperability solution to help address the fragmented, manual data capture processes that limit the ability of community-based organizations (CBOs) to coordinate social care and healthcare efficiently and securely.

At the heart of this collaboration is a new Data Exchange Gateway, developed by United Ways of California with nine local United Ways and 211 service providers, serving over 28 counties in California, to align with the California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework (CA HHS DXF). Through this new data interoperability service, CBOs such as Housing for Health California (HHCA) using the Lightning Step electronic health record (EHR) software platform can now share data with Orange County United Way/211OC (OCUW). Lightning Step was founded by former treatment center owners, operators, and clinicians.

”California United Ways, including OCUW, bring together diverse groups—including community-based organizations, county governments, and philanthropic donors—to ensure all Californians have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive," said Pete Manzo, United Ways of California President and CEO, in a statement. "Our new data exchange gateway is a technological extension of this work, allowing United Way-operated 211s to bring groups together to collaborate on specific coordinated care programs that will make an enormous impact in our communities."

HHCA, a housing program CBO, chose to collaborate with OCUW. HHCA and OCUW identified a network of seven CBOs in Orange County who could potentially deliver higher outcomes, with benefits, if data could flow more quickly and accurately to track and service eligible individuals.

HHCA said it selected Lightning Step’s EHR for its flexibility for CBO case managers, but needed to funnel data via OCUW into several additional county-wide data systems operated by OCUW. OCUW brought its data engineering team and the role of Social Care Data intermediary to the table to help design the right interoperability.

“We’re proud of how quickly our team at Housing for Health California designed and launched a streamlined case workflow to better serve unhoused individuals across Orange County,” said Heather Dion, chief administrative officer at HHCA, in a statement. “With Lightning Step’s support, we integrated this model into care workflows for seven community-based partners and over 200 case managers across 34 cities. OC United Way played a critical role in ensuring seamless data interoperability, helping us capture eligibility and track progress across systems. Together, we achieved in under six months what often takes years—improving care coordination, speeding up provider payments, and advancing outcomes for our most vulnerable community members.”

At the center of this cross-organization interoperability is the new United Way Data Exchange Gateway, developed in alignment with the CA HHS DXF program funded by the CA law AB133. CBOs can now more easily exchange data digitally with other external systems, eliminating the need to input the same data multiple times.

“This project intersects with work OC United Way has been doing with nine United Way 211s across California,” said Chris Ticknor, chief transformation officer for OC United Way/211OC, in a statement. “Our work on a statewide initiative called DxF gave us a running start with Lightning Step and our existing systems of Social Care. HHS CA is leading the country in data interoperability across Gov and CBO networks. We’re on the forefront of that, with HHCA and Lightning Step.”