Networks at Scale: What Administrative Data Can Tell Us About Collaboration

January 20th, 2026

This talk examines how social network analysis can be used as both a theoretical lens for understanding patterns in care delivery and a methodological approach for extracting insights from administrative health data. Considering COVID-19 as a context of system disruption, this work draws on comparisons of clinician patient-sharing networks before and during the pandemic in Federally Qualified Health Centers across California. This presentation includes a brief overview of how we can transform routine data into network graphs and reflects on what additional data sources may be integrated to develop a more comprehensive picture of collaboration in complex settings.

Rachel Ross, Phd, MPH

Rachel L. Ross is a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She holds a PhD in Health Policy with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and a Master of Public Health degree from UC Berkeley. Rachel specializes in the application of social network analysis and mixed-methods analytical approaches; she is passionate about using these tools to examine how professionals collaborate across silos, and how emerging technologies can be integrated into clinical settings to ensure care is truly patient-centered. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Health Services Research, Medical Care, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and various AMIA proceedings. Her research has also been highlighted in national news outlets including Forbes and Medscape, and in policy documents issued by the World Health Organization.