How to Research Your State’s Healthcare Stats for Free
With the National healthcare debate in full swing, there has never been a more important time to become informed about how your state’s stats stack up. But, up-to-date statistics are notoriously difficult to find. Here are the best websites to help you find and understand your state’s healthcare statistics for free.
1. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) – Part of the NLM is the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology. Just call it NICHSR. Their mission statement is “Improving the collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and dissemination of health services research.” They have an actual online course that not only teaches you how to find health statistics, but describes the range of available health stats and identifies their sources. The course even teaches you strategies to better find the statistics you’re looking for, which makes it a great place to start your search.
2. Ask the Kaiser – Kaiser has a site called StateHealthFacts.org which has New Trend Data and Multi-year data on things like health spending and malpractice claims. The best part is that it has map of the U.S. that allows you to search by state as well as by subject. Some subjects are “Minority Health,” “Women’s Health,” and “Health Coverage & Uninsured.” There are also state comparisons and individual state profiles to play with.
3. US State Health Agencies List – If you want to get the answers straight from the source, this directory will help you find that source faster. Every state’s Health Agency is listed and linked. Finding a human being to answer the phone is up to you.
4. Department of Public Health and Human Services – Like so many other government web pages, this one is difficult to navigate and not very helpful. But, there is a nice little roundup of subjects under the “For Researchers” tab that includes MassHealth Annual Reports.
5. CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics – This is a goldmine of surveys, stats and publications. The main page has fun facts like “U.S. Cesarean Rate Up 53% Since 1996,” and if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find stats on anything you care to know about.
