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Now Available on State Health Compare: One Brand New Measure and Five Updated Measures
May 26, 2023:Estimates for five measures of health care access, affordability, and use have now been updated on SHADAC’s State Health Compare. One new measure, Had Telehealth Visit, has also been added to State Health Compare. The new and updated measures are all produced using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). SHADAC produces these state-level measures using restricted-access data through the Minnesota Research Data Center (MnRDC). SHADAC’s State Health Compare is the only source of state-specific data for these measures which are essential for monitoring individuals’ access to and use of medical care, along with their ability to afford care.
These measures now contain data through 2021, using two-year pooled periods (i.e., 2019-2020, 2020-2021). The measures can be broken down by Total, Age, and Coverage Type (Public, Private, Uninsured).
Updated and new measures include:
NEW: Had Telehealth Visit
This measure describes the percent of individuals who had a medical appointment by video or phone during the past twelve months.
Had Usual Source of Medical Care
This measure captures rates of individuals who had a usual place of medical care other than an emergency department during the past twelve months.
Had General Doctor or Provider Visit
This measure provides rates of individuals who had any visit to a general doctor or provider within the last year.
Had Emergency Department Visit
This measure looks at rates of individuals who had any type of visit to an emergency department in the past twelve months.
Trouble Paying Medical Bills
This measure examines rates of individuals who had trouble paying off medical bills during past twelve months.
Made Changes to Medical Drugs
This measure highlights rates of individuals who were prescribed medication in the past twelve months who made changes to their medical drugs due to cost during the past twelve months. This includes delaying filling a prescription, taking less medicine, or skipping doses to save money.
Click here to explore these measures on State Health Compare!
Notes: Data for State Health Compare’s Had Dental Visit measure is only asked in the NHIS rotating core and thus was not asked in the 2021 survey. We will be able to update that measure with new data after both the 2022 and 2023 data are out in mid-2024.
All measures are representative of the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
Data Source: The estimates were produced using restricted NHIS data in the MnRDC. Measures have been updated with data through 2021 using two-year pooled periods, including (a) 2011–2012 through 2017–2018 and (b) 2019-2020 through 2020-2021, except in the case of the telehealth measure for which data is only available from 2020-2021.
