Kimberly Blackhorse, tribal health data specialist, Office of Health Equity, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, speaks Monday at HIMSS25 in Las Vegas.
Photo: Jeff Lagasse/Healthcare Finance News
LAS VEGAS – When promoting health in tribal communities, it’s important for public health departments to respect and understand tribal sovereignty – including when it comes to healthcare data.
That was the message Monday from Kimberly Blackhorse, tribal health data specialist, Office of Health Equity, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. At HIMSS25 in Las Vegas, Blackhorse said tribal nations and federally recognized nations should have access to healthcare funding.
“They are their own government, and with that comes unique identifiers and deliverables, and we have created an entire team to allow them to have access to those funds that come from the federal government,” she said.
Data sovereignty specifically means the right for tribes to control their own data – data that’s gathered by them, for them and about them, said Blackhorse. This, she said, should be shared and should be transferable to the various tribes, she said.
“My team has focused on working with tribal data sovereignty, and making it accessible at the state level, and having internal programs understand it and the uniqueness and importance that it carries,” said Blackhorse. “When we work with data sharing agreements, we implement and put into action tribal data sovereignty principles.”
Those principles include the notion that tribal governments have the right to determine how their data is viewed, stored and accessed, and Blackhorse and her team have formed partnerships locally, including with tribal epidemiology centers, to make sure the partnership recognizes the uniqueness of tribal sovereignty.
According to Kiteworks, it has become more difficult to maintain data sovereignty since data is now stored, transmitted and processed across multiple countries and jurisdictions. Because data is a valuable asset, it can be exploited for economic, political and social gain.
Since data sovereignty ensures data is subject to the laws and regulations of the country from which it’s generated, people and organizations have greater control over their data and how it’s used.
That’s especially critical when it comes to historically underserved tribal nations, said Blackhorse.
“We need ownership over our data,” she said.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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