Stephen Ibaraki

AI adoption strategy for Monitoring and Evaluation teams starts with acknowledging reality: AI is already being used organically in your organization. The most effective approach combines AI literacy, iterative policy-making, and UX-centered change management to guide, rather than block, adoption while managing risks. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e-fRQnJV

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📊 New Preprint: Evaluating Ethnicity Data Quality in Electronic Health Records Accurate demographic data is fundamental for understanding health disparities and designing equitable healthcare policies. Yet in many electronic health record (EHR) systems, variables like ethnicity are often incomplete, inconsistent, or recorded differently across care settings. Our new paper introduces the Data Quality Assessment Method, a structured framework for evaluating ethnicity coding in large health datasets. The approach examines four key dimensions: • Completeness – Is ethnicity consistently recorded? • Internal consistency – Do repeated records agree over time? • Cross-system concordance – Do primary and secondary care data match? • External validity – Do dataset distributions reflect real population demographics? Using insights from the OpenSAFELY-TPP platform—covering over 25 million patient records—the framework demonstrates how linking datasets can substantially improve data completeness while revealing important structural biases across regions and demographic groups. Why this matters: Better demographic data quality enables more reliable population health research, stronger health equity analyses, and better-informed policy decisions. This work highlights that data quality assessment is not just a technical step—it’s foundational for equitable healthcare analytics. 📄 Read the full preprint: https://lnkd.in/dPK5ZCeq We would be interested to hear how others approach data quality assessment for demographic variables in health datasets. #SporeDataResearch #HealthData #HealthEquity #EHR #DataQuality #PublicHealth #HealthInformatics

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Funding Opportunity: Enabling Accessibility Fund – 2026 Call for Proposals The federal Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF) is now open for applications, with a deadline of March 12, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. EST. While not tourism-specific, this capital funding program may benefit tourism operators, community organizations, municipalities, and Indigenous organizations looking to improve accessibility in workplaces and community spaces. The 2026 intake will provide up to $12 million in funding for projects that remove physical, architectural, and technological barriers for persons with disabilities. Eligible organizations may apply for $500,000 to $1,000,000 per project, with funding available for up to 24 months. Priority areas include: ✅Workplace accessibility improvements ✅Indigenous workplace and community accessibility projects ✅Infrastructure upgrades such as accessible washrooms, lifts, entrances, pathways, and technology enhancements ✅Accessibility-focused ICT improvements (including website upgrades to WCAG 2.1 standards) Eligible applicants include not-for-profits, small to mid-sized for-profit businesses (up to 99 employees), Indigenous organizations, small municipalities (under 100,000 population), and territorial governments. If your organization is considering accessibility upgrades to improve employment opportunities or community participation, this may be a valuable funding opportunity. 👉 Learn more about eligibility, priorities, and how to apply at the link. https://lnkd.in/exYUysfi

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As part of our partnership with the Link Center—a free online library of trustworthy models and evidence-based practices has been created to support capacity building across states and systems. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/eGC9-yme

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