Technical Assistance

Technical Assistance

The NW Tribal Data Hub staff provides Tribes in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington with technical assistance for the use of the NW Tribal Data Hub.

We have accumulated a list of frequently asked questions below. Click the question to expand the answer. If you need assistance you may submit a Support Request.

Helpful Links

Data Hub Security Architecture

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Data Hub uses county or zip codes cross-referenced with Indian Health Service (IHS) Purchased/Referred Care Service Delivery Areas (PRCDA) to identify Tribal Area. For more information about PRCDA use PRCDA Table. Because many state and federal data systems do not collect reliable information on tribal affiliation or descendancy, we report data on American Indian or Alaska Native people living within a Tribe’s PRCDA. Understandably, this is not a perfect system for reporting data on Tribal members or residents; however, this approach provides an approximation of health risks and outcomes within a Tribal service area. Note: PRCDA was formerly called Contract Health Service Delivery Area (CHSDA).  

The NPAIHB is dedicated to ensuring Tribes have updated data available. The Data Hub team regularly updates dashboard data as new data is received. Update times vary by data source (tribal, state, or federal) and are dependent on Data Sharing Agreements and the frequency data is received from the data source. 

Tribes can request to add additional data sets to their dashboard. Please send a request to DataHub@NPAIHB.org. To ensure data security, please do not send data in the request email. 

The Northwest Tribal EpiCenter (NWTEC) partners with state and federal entities to gather data on behalf of Tribes in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

As a steward of Tribal health data NWTEC receives data from state sources such as:

  • Vital/Health Statistics (birth and death records),
  • Cancer Registries (cancer records),
  • Hospital data (discharge and syndromic surveillance data-Oregon and Washington only)
  • Reportable communicable disease data
  • Trauma data (Idaho only);

 

And federal sources such as:

  • US Census Bureau (demographic, economic, and population data)
  • EpiDataMart (IHS clinical encounter data)

Data currently available: Drug overdose deaths (Tribal Area Specific)
Data coming soon: Cancer, mortality, racial misclassification, suicide, diabetes, heart disease, demographics (Tribal Area Specific, State & Regional)
Community Health Profile. Access to the dashboard must be authorized by the Tribe for individual persons (users). For more information about how to access the dashboard see: Tribal Data Hub Access. Data cannot be released if it could potentially identify an individual. Data with small numbers (non-zero counts of less than 5) will be identified as “suppressed” or “unreliable” and will not be provided in dashboard reports. 

Data security and protection are vital for supporting Tribal Data Sovereignty. As data stewards, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) works to ensure the protection of Tribal data. Amazon Web Services (AWS – the cloud platform that hosts the Data Hub), NPAIHB, and Tribes all play a role in ensuring the security of the Data Hub. AWS protects the security of the cloud by ensuring the physical security of hardware and the technical security of the software. NPAIHB protects the security in the cloud by ensuring sound security design and architecture, encryption of data, and industry best practices in identity and access management. Tribes can protect and secure their dashboards by coordinating user access with NPAIHB.

Physical protections

  • Storage of data: Data is stored in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Data Center, providing 24/7 protection with perimeter fencing, restricted access, monitoring, security guards, video feeds, intrusion detection technology, backup power grids, fire suppression, and encryption of data at rest and in motion.
  • Data backups (raw data backup on-site, at NWTEC, and in the AWS cloud)

Administrative protection

  • NPAIHB access is limited to only NWTEC Data Hub staff – the staff that design, support, and protect the Data Hub
  • Tribal area-specific data access is limited to only individuals specified by the Tribe to have access to their Tribal area-specific data
    • No one except NWTEC Data Hub staff and individuals specified by the Tribe can access Tribal area data. Tribes cannot view another Tribe’s area-specific data.
  • All Data Hub users sign in to the Data Hub via a secure access portal using their individual user logins (no group or shared logins)
  • User logins require Complex password protection
  • Log records and activity monitoring of all individual users who accessed the system
  • Data are de-identified and aggregated (grouped) so that individuals cannot be identified
  • Small number standards-statistical analyses based on a small number of cases will not be released to ensure individuals’ confidentiality and statistical reliability.

Technical protections

  • Virtual Private Computing and Network layer security.
  • Firewall protection.
  • No public access to databases and storage.
  • NWTEC staff with access to Data Hub infrastructure are required to use multifactor authentication (MFA) and Virtual Private Networks to access the Data Hub.
  • Encryption at rest and in motion- Methods used to transfer data are encrypted using AES-256. Industry-standard mechanisms and algorithms, such as those validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are required.
  • Identity Access Management (IAM) permissions.
  • FedRAMP and HIPAA-certified technology.

Tribes must complete a Data Sharing Agreement and Data Hub Addendum to identify individuals who will have access to the data. Each individual identified must complete appropriate user agreement forms before receiving access to the Data Hub Dashboard for the Tribal Area. Each Tribe will only have access to their Tribal Area level data and aggregate state and regional data. Tribes will not have access to another Tribal Area’s data. 

Tribes are sovereign nations with the power to govern their people, land, and resources without interference from other jurisdictions​. Federally recognized Tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. government, and state-recognized Tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the states in which they are recognized. 

Tribal data sovereignty is the inherent right of Tribes to control the collection, ownership, and use of their data​​. Data are an important tool for informing public health policies and decision-making. Data are key to building evidence-based Tribal health systems that protect and promote health for current and future generations​. For more information about Tribal Data Sovereignty see the Tribal Data Sovereignty Fact Sheet​​. For more information about Public Health Authority Status of Tribes see the Public Health Authority Status Fact Sheet.  

  1. Complete a Data Sharing Agreement and Data Hub Addendum
    1. A Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) and Data Hub Addendum are documents that outline organizations bound by the agreement, what data will be shared, how long the agreement is in place, how the data will be used, who owns the data, identifies authorizing official(s) and their roles, and processes for confidentiality and security of the data.
  2. Identify who will have Access and complete the User Request Form
    1. Once the DSA is complete and an authorizing official(s) has been identified. The authorizing official will need to identify who will have access to the Tribal Data Hub Dashboard. The User Request Form is a document authorizing, renewing, or removing users from the dashboard. Be sure to review the Terms of Use before submitting your user request.
  3. Log into your Data Hub account
    1. Once you have completed your new user form with the appropriate authorization from the Tribe’s Authorizing Official, Data Hub staff will create a Data Hub account to complete your access request. The Data Hub will then email your login information to the email provided on your Data Hub User Request Form. When you receive the email, you will be able to log in. For more information on Logging in the first time follow the hyperlink.

It is up to Tribal leadership and the Authorizing Official identified on the Data Sharing Agreement and Data Hub Addendum to identify who will have access to their Data Hub Dashboard. Generally, users include:

  • Public health staff,
  • Tribal Health Director
  • Grant writers
  • Data analysts, and/or
  • Anyone else identified by the Authorizing Official or leadership with a need to access the Tribal Area Specific data regularly. 

It is vital to the security of your organization’s data for authorizing officials to notify the NPAIHB Data Hub staff as soon as possible to ensure users changing positions or leaving employment do not have inappropriate access to the Tribe’s data dashboard. To remove a user the authorizing official will Appendix B: Data Hub User Request Form for each user’s access they would like to remove. Removing access does not require complete information for the user, but does require basic information:

  • Organization Name
  • Check removing user
  • Complete the section on user information: name, email
  • Dashboard user name, job title, email, phone number, and signature attestation are not required for user removal.
  • Authorizing official (AO) completes the authorizing official section: name, job title, email, phone number, authorizing signature, and date (can be provided electronically).
  • Complete point of contact (POC) information identifying a POC in case the AO or user cannot be reached: name, job title, email, and phone number.
  • Leave the lower portion of the form blank it will be completed by the NPAIHB.

 

Email the completed form to datahub@NPAIHB.org. If there is a situation where you need an individual removed urgently please contact (503) 228-4185 Ext. 397.

The Tribal Data Hub User Guide provides instructions for the use of the Data Hub.

The Data Hub team has provided a Tribal Data Hub User Guide to provide basic instructions on the use of the Data Hub Dashboard.  The Data Hub team also provides updated training information on the Data Hub Technical Assistance Page. For additional training and technical assistance please contact the Data Hub team at datahub@NPAIHB.org.  

Suggested citations for each dashboard can be found in the NW Tribal Data Hub Data Analysis Methods document

Detailed information on the data sources and analysis methods used for producing the dashboards can be found in the NW Tribal Data Hub Data Analysis Methods document.