Intervention Resources
The Guide to Community Preventive Services (Task Force on Community Preventive Services, CDC) - This resource presents evidence-based
Task Force recommendations and findings about what works to improve public health. Systematic reviews are used to answer these questions: Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective? Are there effective interventions that are right for my community? What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?
The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services (US Preventive Services Task Force, AHRQ) – This resource contains the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations on the use of screening, counseling, and other preventive services that are typically delivered in primary care settings. The USPSTF, an independent panel of experts supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), makes recommendations based on systematic reviews of the evidence related to the benefits and potential harms of clinical preventive services.
Federally Sponsored Health Indicator Reports and Initiatives
America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010 (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics) - A compendium of indicators illustrating both the promises and the difficulties confronting our nation’s young people.
American Fact Finder (U.S. Census Bureau) - An interactive database that is searchable for data from multiple data sources.
Area Resource File (HRSA) - Contains information on health facilities, health professions, measures of resource scarcity, health status, economic activity, health training programs, and socioeconomic and environmental characteristics at the state and county level.
Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. (NCI) - Contains links to comprehensive cancer control resources for public health professionals and the public, including
State Cancer Profiles data and information from the Community Guide.
CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention's Data Trends & Maps (CDC) - Online tool to search for and view health indicators related to heart disease and stroke prevention.
CDC Wonder (CDC) - Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. Access statistical research data published by CDC; Public-use data sets about deaths, cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, births, census data and many other topics are available for query.
Child Health USA-2007 (HRSA) - Provides indicators describing the health of the nation’s infants, children, and adolescents.
DATA2010 (HHS) - An interactive database system containing the most recent monitoring data for the Healthy People 2010 objectives.
Statistical tables from eighteen focus areas with state level data are now available.
Digest of Education Statistics (NCES) - Provides a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Environmental Public Health Indicators (EPHI) Project (CDC) - Assesses health status or risk as it relates to our environment. They may be used to assess baseline status and trends, track program goals and objectives, and build core surveillance capacity in state and local agencies.
FASTATS A-Z (CDC) - The CDC FastStats site provides quick access to statistics on topics of public health importance and is organized alphabetically. Links are provided to publications that include the statistics presented, to sources of more data, and to related web pages.
Gateway to Data and Statistics (HHS Data Council) - This web-based tool brings together key health and human services data and statistics.
HCUP-Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (AHRQ) - A family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Health Data Interactive (NCHS, CDC) – This site presents tables with national health statistics for infants, children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. Tables can be customized by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and geographic location to explore different trends and patterns.
Healthy People (HHS) - Healthy People 2010 contains 467 objectives in 28 focus areas designed to serve as a framework for improving the health of all people in the United States. Healthy People 2020 is currently under development.
Health, United States (NCHS, CDC) - A chartbook and 150 detailed tables providing an annual picture of the health of the entire United States. Updated annually.
Health Services and Sciences Research Resources (NLM) - Information about research datasets and instruments used in health services research.
Hospital Quality Compare,
Nursing Home Compare, Home Health Compare,
Dialysis Facility Compare, (CMS, HHS) - For health policy researchers, the media, and others interested in Medicare (Medicare's database download resource page).
National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports (AHRQ) - Measures the trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, timeliness of care, patient centeredness, and efficiency of care.
Static tables are available in addition to an interactive tool for generating
customized tables. A data table containing
all measures by all states is also available.
Older Americans 2010 (Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics) - This report provides data on 38 key indicators that portray aspects of the lives of older Americans and their families.
National Assessment of Educational Progress: The Nation's Report Card
(NCES) - The largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history.
Quick Health Data Online (HHS Office of Women’s Health) - This system provides state- and county-level data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories and possessions. Data are available by gender, race and ethnicity and are organized into eleven main categories, including demographics, mortality, natality, reproductive health, violence, prevention, disease and mental health.
Research Data Assistance Center (CMS) - A
CMS contractor providing free assistance to academic, government and non-profit researchers interested in using Medicare and/or Medicaid data for their research. The site contains information on how to obtain Medicare data, including downloadable files when publicly available.
STATE System: CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System (CDC) - An electronic data warehouse containing up-to-date and historical state-level data on tobacco use prevention and control. The STATE System is designed to integrate many data sources to provide comprehensive summary data and facilitate research and consistent data interpretation.
Statistical Tools and Data (NCI) - Provides information on cancer incidence, prevalence, survival and mortality by sociodemographic groups. Includes on-line query tools.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) (SAMHSA) - Data sets on substance abuse and mental health.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics (SAMHSA) - Provides information on treatment, incidence and prevalence of mental health and substance abuse disorders, including on-line data query tools.
US Food Environment Atlas (USDA) – Presents a spatial overview of a community’s ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors: Food Choices; Health and Well-Being; and Community Characteristics.
WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) (CDC) - An interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data.
Youth Indicators: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth (NCES) - Contains statistics to describe the circumstances of young people’s lives both in school and beyond the schoolhouse. The report acknowledges that learning may occur across many different settings and may be influenced by circumstances and experiences in various social contexts.
Selected non-Governmental Health Indicator Reports and Initiatives
AARP's State of 50+ America (AARP) – Includes a set of 25 indicators describing the health and quality of life of Americans age 50 and older.
America’s Health Rankings (United Health Foundation) - Provides state-specific rankings from 1 to 50 across a variety of national health benchmarks. The approach balances the contributions of various factors, such as smoking, obesity, children in poverty, access to care, and incidence of preventable disease, to a state`s health.
Children's Defense Fund-The State of America's Children® 2010 Report (Children’s Defense Fund) - A compilation of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on poverty, health, child welfare, youth at risk, early childhood development, education, family income and gun violence.
Child Trends Data Bank (Child Trends) - National trend data and research on over 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being.
Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) - Offers information on what community indicators-performance measures (CI-PM) integration means, why it is important, and where it is being done. It also provides links to specific indicator efforts.
Community Tool Box - The Tool Box contains more than 7,000 pages of “how-to” information for community health and development work, and is fully available in both English and Spanish.
Diversitydata.org (Harvard School of Public Health) - Allows visitors to explore how metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. perform on a diverse range of social measures that comprise a well-rounded life experience. The site provides access to socioeconomic indicators for metropolitan areas in the form of tables, thematic maps, and customizable reports.
Kaiser State Health Facts (Kaiser Family Foundation) - Provides free and up-to-date health data on all 50 states. Statehealthfacts.org provides data on more than 450 health topics and is linked to both the Kaiser Family Foundation website (www.kff.org) and KaiserNetwork.org (www.kaisernetwork.org).
KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online (Annie E. Casey Foundation) - Contains state-level data for over 100 measures of child well-being, including all the measures regularly used in the KIDS COUNT Data Book and The Right Start for America's Newborns. The online database allows you to generate custom reports for a geographic area (Profiles) or to compare geographic areas on a topic.
PeriStats (March of Dimes) - Developed by the March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center with funding from the National Institutes of Health, PeriStats provides free access to maternal & infant health-related data at the U.S., state, county, and city level.
State Scorecard
(Commonwealth Fund) - Interactive U.S. map to view state-specific health system rankings and results compared to benchmarks and the number of lives and dollars each state could save by achieving benchmark levels of performance.
Trust for America's Health: Your State's Health (TFAH) - TFAH is a "non-profit, non-partisan organization" dedicated to health promotion and disease prevention. TFAH's Your State's Health resource provides a status report on selected disease (e.g., cancer) and public health preparedness (e.g., bioterrorism) tracking at state and local level.