November 19, 2009: Earlier this month SHADAC launched our new Data Center, an online table and chart generator tool designed to provide quick, easy access to health insurance coverage estimates. You can can view our November 17 webinar to introduce the Data Center.
We’re very excited about this new tool! It’s been nearly a year in the planning and implementation, taking our very conceptual ideas on what our users need and turning that into useful data that is easy to use. We know that using survey microdata requires expertise and software that many states don’t have. We hope this tool, as it is and as it evolves, will help states cover a basic need for survey estimates.
An important component of the Data Center is our new SHADAC-Enhanced Current Population Survey estimates. These estimates have been adjusted by researchers at SHADAC on an effort led by Jeanette Ziegenfuss and Mike Davern. They include adjusting estimates to account for changes over time, notably the verification question added in 2000, but also other smaller impact changes. Our Data Center is the only source for these estimates (although microdata will be available through the Minnesota Population Center, http://cps.ipums.org/cps/, in the next few months).
We encourage you to use the Data Center, and to register so we can keep you updated and solicit your feedback. This is a great tool, but it’s really just a first stab at what will evolve to be an amazingly versatile option for state health policy analysts. We need your feedback to help it become the resource that you need.
We’d like to recognize the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their support in developing the Data Center.