Join us for a virtual tour of State Health Compare, a new, user-friendly online tool for obtaining and comparing state-level estimates related to health and health care.
State Health Compare: How's It Different?
State Health Compare combines estimates previously available separately through the SHADAC Data Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Data Hub. The new, merged tool brings together estimates on a wide range of health-related topics in an effort to allow analysts and policymakers to view state-level data through a broad Culture of Health lens.
The Virtual Tour: What Will You Learn?
SHADAC Senior Research Fellow Joanna Turner will guide attendees on a tour of State Health Compare's user interface. Ms. Turner will provide an overview of available estimates and show how users can generate maps, bar charts, trend lines, and tables to examine the estimates within and across states and over time, as well as by characteristics such as age, race/ethnicity, etc. Attendees will also learn how to download graphics and export the underlying data.
Ms. Turner will be joined on the webinar by Carolyn Miller, Senior Program Officer at RWJF, and by SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett. SHADAC Senior Research Fellow Brett Fried will also be available to answer questions.
Publication
SHADAC Newsletter - January 2017
The SHADAC newsletter contains updates on SHADAC activities, news from the states, resource updates, and blog highlights. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Data Alert: New ACS 5-Year Estimates, Data Center Updates
December 12, 2017:
The new American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year state and county uninsurance estimates for 2011 to 2015 are now available via a SHADAC clickable map. Users can click a state to access a table of uninsurance estimates for the state and all counties.
Background: The 5-year ACS is created by pooling together five years of ACS data to produce estimates for areas and subgroups with smaller populations, so estimates are available even for counties with a population below 65,000.
SHADAC's State Profiles have been updated to include these 5-year estimates.
In other data news, the SHADAC Data Center has been updated with 2015 estimates from the ACS, the Current Population Survey (CPS); the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS); and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Explore the new estimates.
Publication
Comparing Federal Government Surveys That Count the Uninsured: 2016
This brief provides an annual update to comparisons of uninsurance estimates from four federal surveys1:
The American Community Survey (ACS)
The Current Population Survey (CPS)
The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Component (MEPS-HC)
The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
In this brief, we present current and historical national estimates of uininsurance along with the most recent avaialble state-level estimates from these surveys. We also discuss the main reasons for variation in the estimates across the different surveys.
1Another federal survey that provides estimates of the uninsured is the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which provides uninsurance estimates for non-elderly adults (ages 18 to 64) nationally and among states. Details about the BRFSS are included in Appendix A of the brief, and estimates from the BRFSS are provided in Appendix B.
SHADAC Researchers Co-Author Article on Changes to the NHIS
September 26, 2016:
The American Journal of Public Health recently published an article authored by Lynn A. Blewett (SHADAC), Heather M. Dahlen (Medica Research Institute), Donna Spencer (SHADAC), Julia A. Rivera Drew (Minnesota Population Center), and Elizabeth Lukanen (SHADAC).
Led by Lynn Blewett, the authors discuss the importance of the NHIS and the continued need for state-level analysis. They also make suggestions for future consideration aimed at further strengthening the survey.