Researchers at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine say their new Congressional District Health Dashboard shows stark geographic, racial and ethnic disparities in health across USA. They hope lawmakers and healthcare organizations can use the tool to better understand and address health inequalities.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
Measures that combine health, such as deaths from cardiovascular disease and breast cancer, with conditions that affect health, such as housing affordability and access to nutritious food, not yet available at the congressional district level.
According to Dr Giridhar Mallya, senior policy official for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a partner on the project, which provides a single location that is publicly accessible, the Parliament’s Regional Health Panel is established built to provide a comprehensive data view of persistent inequality across the country. .
Using the tool, policymakers and others can drill down into data by county, compare rates with state and national averages, and compare rates with state and national averages, he said in the announcement. see snapshots by county.
For example, the first dashboard of its kind reveals that Hispanic residents have the highest rates of uninsured in most constituencies nationwide.
The tool also found that people living in 11 states that didn’t expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act were twice as likely to be uninsured than people living in the primary location. state authority to extend Medicaid coverage.
Furthermore, the panel shows residents of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, on average, are nearly 3.5 times more likely to be uninsured than residents of New England counties.
“This dashboard could be a game changer for health policy in the US,” Mallya said.
The site displays interactive maps, tables, and charts and is provided by Federal data sources, including those published by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Managed by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as other data sets.
Dr Marc Gourevitch, chair of the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health, added: “The Congressional County Health Dashboard will help meet the urgent need for timely, rigorous, and relatable data. actions that can inform evidence-based policymaking”.
The partners say the data tool will continue to be monitored and updated by a team of policy and population health experts, epidemiologists and geospatial experts.
TREND TO BIGGER
In 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services adopted a strategic approach to address social determinants of health in order to promote health equity.
The three main goals include developing an interoperable infrastructure to support coordination and policymaking; improve access and support community partnerships to address societal needs and government-wide approaches that leverage private resources and community organisations.
In development are standards for data layers and health information exchange components to gather information about conditions, such as food, housing, and vehicle accessibility, puts one’s health and well-being at risk.
A peer-to-peer learning forum launched this past October by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and HL7 is testing the use of FHIR standards to exchange information about SDOH in healthcare initial.
Efforts – including systematic data collection on social and demographic needs across industries and analysis of trends – are vital to many collaborators to address health disparities , Daniel Brillman, Founder and CEO of Unite Us, says Healthcare IT News in December.
“The causes of health disparities are multifaceted, and achieving improved equity will require an even broader approach, including environmental, social and environmental determinants.” , politics and economics,” he said in a Q&A on SDOH resolution and interoperability in 2023.
Brillman and Melissa Sherry, Unite Us’s vice president of social care integration, share that they believe that when it comes to health equity, healthcare will move in a positive direction this year. .
“We will see an increase in the adoption of technology that not only identifies SDOH needs but can predict, analyze and report on its impact,” Sherry said.
ON PROFILE
“The Congressional District Health Dashboard will help meet the urgent need for timely, rigorous, and actionable data that can inform the planning process,” Gourevitch said in the statement. evidence-based policy”.
“Policymakers, advocates and others can now drill down into their specific congressional districts to identify opportunities and challenges affecting health and wellbeing. of all those they serve, regardless of income, race, or zip code.”
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS.
