Health Statistics

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) presents opportunities to support what has often been called the “new public health.” This analysis of the ACA provisions suggests five interrelated issues of importance for the future of public health-defining a new paradigm, identifying reliable funding streams, developing the evidence base, establishing effective relationships with other actors, and communicating the value proposition of public health. The brief concludes by noting that much work must still be done to assure that the ACA becomes a wellspring of appreciation for public health’s value, rather than the high water mark for public health advocacy.

Among the health promotion and cost-control strategies included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a focus on disease prevention. In addition to bolstering coverage of clinical preventive services the ACA includes new funding for evidence-based lifestyle interventions targeting chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and renal disease, all of which are growing in prevalence in the U.S. This brief examines the budgetary implications of unchecked prevalence growth, describes promising approaches to reducing that growth, and estimates the potential return on investment in these approaches as envisioned in the ACA, finding ample justification for these efforts in a larger cost-control strategy.

This forum will explore the extent of limited food access in the United States, the health implications of living far from affordable nutritious food, innovative ways to provide healthier food choices, the divide between nutrition education and dietary habits, and more.

States play an important role in serving children with a need for mental health services. In order to improve the mental health care system for this vulnerable population, it is necessary to better understand the need for mental health services, their availability, and their effectiveness across states. This report reviews the recent literature on children’s mental health services and examines a wide range of data sources for state-based analysis. It considers the feasibility of producing a comprehensive evaluation of state mental health systems for children and discusses the potential limitations of such an analysis.

This report concludes a comprehensive evaluation of The Data & Democracy II project, a program funded by The California Endowment and implemented by UCLA. These organizations sought to increase the capacity of local community-based organizations (CBOs) to collect, analyze, and interpret data to identify and prioritize areas for action. The program was structured after the Train-the-Trainer model, in which a group from local CBOs is trained in these skills and required to disseminate the information by conducting workshops in their own communities. We examine the program's effectiveness, long-term impacts, and challenges through observations, surveys and case studies.

The Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model (HIPSM) is a detailed microsimulation model of the health care system. It estimates the cost and coverage effects of proposed health care policy options and is designed for quick-turn around analysis of policy proposals—from novel health insurance offerings and strategies for increasing affordability to state-specific-proposals. This document provides an overview of HIPSM, describes the type of policies it can examine and studies that have used the model, and point to potential future studies that the model makes possible, including analyses of options left open to states after health reform.

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) collects information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. It is funded by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and is conducted by the Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). This report examines health care access and use in 2008 in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) collects information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. It is funded by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and is conducted by the Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). This report presents the detail tabulations from the 2008 MHIS on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care in Massachusetts.