Mapping Tobacco Use in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana

In recognition of National Prevention Week, we are drawing attention to health issues related to substance abuse and prevention. National Prevention Week is an annual health observance designed to increase public awareness of, and action around, substance abuse and mental health issues. This year's theme is: "Your voice. Your choice. Make a difference."

Smoking is the nation's largest preventable cause of disease and death. Approximately one in four Americans (68 million people) uses a tobacco product. Most tobacco users smoke cigarettes, and millions of other people also use other types of tobacco, such as cigars, chewing tobacco, and snuff.

The maps below show the prevalence of smoking among people 18 years of age and older in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana (2006-2010).

The first one, called a thematic map, shows the rates of smoking in each county. Darker colors represent higher rates of smoking.

The second one, called a threshold map, shows all counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana in which 25 percent or more of the population smokes.

Are you trying to prevent and reduce smoking in your community? If so, log on to HealthLandscape to access the data sets shown above, as well as thousands of other indicators. Simply go to www.HealthLandscape.org to register for a free account and begin using it today!

Maps are based on Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. This and other BRFSS data sets are available in HealthLandscape's Community HealthView data library.

Other sources include the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Prevention Week Participant Toolkit.

HealthLandscape Helps Launch Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's Go to the Source! Webinar Series for Data Users

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has a new webinar series for data users called Go to the Source! We were honored to be the first presenter for the series.

Health Informatics Specialist Jené Grandmont gave an overview of geographic information systems (GIS) terminology as well as a demonstration of HealthLandscape's QuickMaps, QuickGeocodes, and QuickThemes tools. You can view her entire presentation here:

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky is a fantastic source of health information data for Kentuckians. The Foundation partners with The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati to conduct the annual Kentucky Health Issues Poll (click here to download results), and also conducts surveys and other targeted research initiatives.

The Go to the Source! webinar series is designed to introduce researchers, epidemiologists, grant writers, community benefit specialists, and others who use health data to key health data tools and resources that are available for Kentucky. Upcoming webinars include:

• May 14: Kentucky Medicaid Pharmaceutical Utilization Guide (Michael Childress, Research Associate, University of Kentucky)
• May 21: Kentucky Health Issues Poll and OASIS (Jennifer Chubinski, Director of Community Research, Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, and Mark Carrozza, Health Informatics Developer, HealthLandscape)
• June 11: Kentucky State Data Center (Michael Price, State Demographer, Kentucky State Data Center)
• July 9: Kentucky Parent Survey (Sarah Walsh, Knowledge Officer, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky)
• July 16: KIDS COUNT Data Center 2.0 (Amy Swann, Senior Policy Analyst, Kentucky Youth Advocates)

Sign up for the webinars at Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's Events, Workshops, and Webinars page.

Hands-On Workshop: Data-Driven Decision Making

Screen shot showing percent of population with diabetes in Hamilton County, Ohio (Source: Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings)

 
Would you like to get more out of your own data?

Are you looking for a simple way to map population data, or quickly and easily access American Community Survey data, Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings data, and other public data sets?

If so, plan to attend the Data-Driven Decision Making workshop on May 21, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. 

This hands-on workshop (bring your laptop) will introduce you to HealthLandscape and the OASIS data system. In this five-hour session, you'll have plenty of time to explore these two web-based tools that let you create simple, effective tables, charts, and maps of data that inform policy and drive decision-making.

You are invited to submit your organization's data prior to the workshop so that we can show you how powerful your data can be when shown as a map.

Cost is $35 for nonprofits and includes a light breakfast and lunch. CEUs are available.

Space is limited, so sign up soon! Registration closes May 14.

Register

Use Case: Comparing High School Graduation Rates with Third-Grade Reading Proficiency in Ohio and Kentucky

The Facts Matter data portal is an online tool for data sharing in the Greater Cincinnati region. Community representatives and local leaders (such as the United Way of Greater Cincinnati) have determined what indicators best measure the well-being of the region. They use Facts Matter to display these shared measures and community-level outcomes.

Improving high school graduation rates is one of the region's community impact goals. The screen shots below show several ways Facts Matter visualizes graduation rates and similar indicator data.

High-Low Comparisons of High School Graduation Rates and Third-Grade Reading Proficiency in Kentucky

Above is a comparison of high school graduation rates in Kentucky and third-grade reading proficiency scores (county level). Blue indicates high graduation rates and high third-grade reading proficiency scores; red indicates high graduation rates and low third-grade reading proficiency scores; light blue indicates low graduation rates and high third-grade reading proficiency scores; yellow indicates low graduation rates and low third-grade reading proficiency scores.

 

Side-by-Side Comparisons of High School Graduation Rates and Third-Grade Reading Proficiency in Ohio

Above is a comparison of third-grade reading proficiency scores (left) and high-school graduation rates in Ohio (district-level).

 

Ohio Third-Grade Reading Proficiency Scores by Building

Above is a building-level view of third-grade reading proficiency scores in Ohio. Darkest circles represent buildings with highest levels of reading proficiency.

 

Ohio Third-Grade Reading Proficiency Scores by District

Above is a district-level view of third-grade reading proficiency scores in Ohio. Darkest shading represent districts with highest levels of reading proficiency.

 

Kentucky Third-Grade Reading Proficiency Scores (Chart View)

Above are Kentucky third-grade reading proficiency scores (district-level) viewed by levels of proficiency.

 

Interested in learning more about HealthLandscape's Community Data Portal? Our next webinar is Thursday, April 11, at 3 pm (eastern). Click the Register link below to sign up.

Register

GIS Tracks Emerging Statewide Patient Care Patterns

We are pleased to be featured in Esri's Spring 2013 Health & Human Services newsletter. The article highlights the North Carolina Health Information Portal (NC-HIP), which our client Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) is using to help manage its Medicare and Medicaid populations.

CCNC comprises 14 network partners who collectively manage 1.2 million of North Carolina's 1.6 million Medicaid recipients. The portal combines clinical and claims data with public data, so CCNC can better understand what is happening with their patient population at the community level.

The article appears on pages 8 and 9 of the newsletter. Click here to download the full issue.

The North Carolina Health Information Portal helps North Carolina improve quality of care for its Medicare and Medicaid populations. This article appears in the Spring 2013 issue of Esri's Health & Human Services newsletter.

HealthLandscape to Present at CIC Impact Summit

About 200 community indicators and data experts and practitioners are convening in College Park, MD, for the Community Indicators Consortium Impact Summit November 15 and 16.

Mark Carrozza, our Director of Health Informatics, will present the HealthLandscape Community Data Portal during the "New Developments in Data Visualization" session on Thursday, November 15 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm.

He will join more than 50 other presenters (including Lisbeth Schorr) across tracks devoted to sustainability, health, education, and indicators tools and approaches. See the full list of presenters here.

This will be the place to be for anyone interested in the latest ways to use data to move community improvement across multiple issue areas. There is still time to register online, so please consider attending. You can save a bit by joining CIC as a member and then accessing the member rate for the conference.

Interested in learning more about HealthLandscape's Community Data Portal? Click the Register link below to sign up for a free webinar.

Register

HealthLandscape Hosts U.S. CTO Todd Park and Presidential Innovation Fellows

Todd Park, U.S. CTO

HealthLandscape was honored to co-host the Innovation Open House Discussion with Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, and several members of the first class of Presidential Innovation Fellows this past Friday. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (the event venue) was co-host.

Macon Phillips, Director of Digital Strategy at the White House

Local entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and civic leaders spent one-on-one time with Mr. Park, Macon Phillips, Director of Digital Strategy at the White House, and several of the Fellows to discuss how government and business can work together to spur the economy and increase opportunity and job growth.

Conversation centered around the Presidential Innovation Fellows program's five projects:

• Blue Button: Blue Button (@ProjectBlueBtn) will spread the ability for Americans to easily and securely download their own health information electronically. 
• RFP-EZ: RFP-EZ (@ProjectRFPEZ) will streamline the "request for proposal" interaction between the government and small high-growth tech businesses, to make it easier for each to work with the other.
• MyGov: MyGov (@ProjectMyGov) will make it easier for citizens to access information and services from the federal government.
• The 20% Initiative: The 20% Initiative (@ProjectTwenty) will transition development assistance payments from cash to electronic methods, lowering administrative costs and reducing theft, fraud, and violence.
• Open Data Initiatives: Open Data Initiatives (@ProjectOpenData) will accelerate and expand administration efforts to make government data more publicly accessible and encourage entrepreneurs to use the data to create new products, services, and jobs. (The Health Data Initiative [HDI] is among the first Open Data Initiatives. HealthLandscape has participated in all three HDI Forums, a.k.a. Health Datapaloozas.)

Park has been traveling around the country, hosting meetups, Datapaloozas (the Energy Datapalooza just wrapped up), and code-a-thons to find creative ways to spread the word and spark interest among entrepreneurs. The projects are tough, but tractable challenges whose solutions could provide immediate benefits and cost savings to citizens, entrepreneurs, and businesses.

"We're relying on the American entrepreneurial spirit to tackle these challenges," he said.