News: April 3, 2012 Headlines

SHADAC Webinar: Data Center and the Health Insurance Unit SHADAC Brief on Microsimulation Models American FactFinder Training State Refor(u)m Exchange Webinar SHADAC's Jessie KemmickPintor Awarded 2012 County Health Rankings Updated Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey GAO Report on Use of Federal Statistical Data Conference Updates California Health Profiles 2011 Colorado Health Report Card Kentucky Health Issues Poll Wisconsin Local Area Health Insurance Estimates

Announcements
SHADAC Webinar: Data Center and Health Insurance Unit
SHADAC will host a webinar on April 10 (2:00PM EDT) to discuss recent updates to the Data Center online table generator and the development of our new health insurance unit (HIU). Register for the webinar. In this webinar SHADAC Senior Research Fellow Joanna Turner will lead a discussion and demonstration of recent enhancements to the Data Center that make it easier to generate more complex tables, such as 50-state comparisons of insurance coverage for specific population groups. Additional SHADAC experts will be available to respond to participants questions and also to discuss applications of the HIU, which is a new tool that allows analysts to run coverage estimates based on family units that reflect common dependent coverage practices and public program eligibility rules.

SHADAC Brief on Microsimulation Models

SHADAC released "Predicting the Effects of the Affordable Care Act: A Comparative Analysis of Health Policy Microsimulation Models," a companion brief to the March 21 webinar on the same topic (the archive and presentation slides are now posted at the above links). This brief outlines the components of five

State Exchange Surveys

major microsimulation models so that policymakers and analysts better understand their methodologies and outputs. The brief and webinar are sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations State Health Reform Assistance Network program.

Our highlighted Resources

Data Center Defining "Family" for Studies of Health Insurance Coverage A Comparative Analysis of Health Policy Microsimulation Models

American FactFinder Training Available

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will host a free seminar, Transitioning to the New American FactFinder: Half-day Training on April 25, 2012. This training will provide an overview of the new American FactFinder using live demonstrations. The training session is free but accessible by reservation only, and capacity is limited. To register, e-mail your name, affiliation, and seminar name to wss_seminar@bls.gov, or call 202-691-7524 and leave a message by noon EDT on April 18, 2012.

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State Refor(u)m Exchange Webinar

State Refor(u)m will host the webinar, "Building It from the Ground Up: A Conversation with State Health Insurance Exchange Leaders," on Thursday, April 12, 2012, from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM EDT. This webinar will feature exchange directors from three different states who will share what they've accomplished so far, the challenges they see ahead, their top policy priorities, and how they work with other agencies and partners across traditional program boundaries. The webinar will be moderated by Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief, Health Affairs, with panelists: Richard Fiore, Executive Director, Alabama Health Insurance Exchange; Patty Fontneau, Executive Director and CEO, Colorado Health Benefit Exchange; and Peter Lee, Executive Director, California Health Benefit Exchange.

SHADAC's Jessie Kemmick-Pintor Awarded

SHADAC Research Assistant Jessie Kemmick-Pintor received

the Roper Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). Roper Fellows are people whose primary work responsibilities are related to survey research or public opinion and who have recently started their careers. They receive financial assistance to help them attend the annual conference and/or participate in conference short courses. Jessie will use this award to attend the 2012 AAPOR Annual Conference, to be held May 17-20 in Orlando, FL.

Resources
2012 County Health Rankings
County Health Rankings (CHR) released 2012 County Health Rankings and Roadmap, including the annual update of county health rankings plus enhanced data visualization elements to provide new tools, features, and resources. The new "roadmap" feature provides a tool for communities to learn, communicate and organize toward a plan for improved population health.

Updated Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey

The National Center for Health Statistics released the report, "Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January-September 2011," with selected estimates of health insurance coverage for the U.S. population. The report found that in the first nine months of 2011, 46.6 million persons of all ages (15.2%) were uninsured and about seven percent of children under age 18 were uninsured. The report does not provide state-specific estimates (these are typically released in June of each year).

GAO Report on Use of Federal Statistical Data

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released "Federal Statistical System: Agencies Can Make Greater Use of

Existing Data, but Continued Progress Is Needed on Access and Quality Issues." This report reviews the ways in which federal agencies identify opportunities for improvement and increased efficiency in the use of data; evaluates opportunities for federal statistical agencies to use administrative data in conjunction with surveys; and assesses the benefits and constraints of selected surveys making greater use of the American Community Survey.

Conference Updates

AcademyHealths State Health Research and Policy (SHRP) Interest Group will host its annual meeting on Saturday, June 23 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin in Orlando, FL.

Registration is now open for the two-day data user workshop for Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) in Rockville, MD, on April 25-26, 2012. The workshop will provide a general overview of the survey including information about survey design, file content, and the construction of analytic files.

The CDCs National Center for Health Statistics invites researchers to submit poster abstracts for this years expanded Poster Session at the 2012 National Conference on Health Statistics, on August 6-8, 2012. in Washington, DC. Abstracts are due on April 16.

News from the States

California Health Profiles
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released userfriendly and printable county-based Health Profiles on a wide range of topics such as health insurance, obesity, exercise, and more. Based on data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey, these profiles contain information on adults in the state's 58 counties. The state's 41 most populated

counties each have their own profile and the remaining 17 smaller counties are grouped into three different profiles, and sub-county profiles are available for Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. A statewide profile is also available, examining data from CHIS 2001-2009.

2011 Colorado Health Report Card

The Colorado Health Institute, in partnership with the Colorado Health Foundation, released the 2011 Colorado Health Report Card. The report card includes detailed information about 38 health indicators that span the life course and which, if left unchanged, could pose significant risks to the health and wellbeing of Coloradans. The 2011 findings show overall gains in health insurance coverage rates for children and adolescents over the past decade, but otherwise not much improvement in overall health indicators over the past five years.

Kentucky Health Issues Poll

The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky have released final results from the 2011 Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP) on health issues that affect communities, the state and the nation. The poll covers a wide variety of health issues with results presented in a series of reports by topic. Health insurance estimates show that one in three Kentucky adults ages 18-64 are uninsured; fewer working-age adults are insured by employers.

Wisconsin Local Area Health Insurance Estimates

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services released Local Data on Poverty Status and Health Insurance Coverage in Wisconsin. The estimates, available as a set of tables for counties, regions, and the state, provide estimates of the number and percent of the population by poverty status, health insurance coverage over the past year, and type of

health insurance. They represent averages over three-year time periods (2007-2009, 2005-2007, and 2004-2006). Estimates are based on the Family Health Survey (FHS), which conducts interviews with a sample of randomly selected households in Wisconsin.

State Exchange Surveys

AARP released several reports based on state-based surveys of registered voters regarding development of the state health insurance exchange. Recent reports include:

2012 AARP Survey of Minnesota Registered Voters Ages 30-64 on the Development of a State Health Insurance Exchange

2012 AARP Survey of New York Registered Voters Ages 30-64 on the Development of a State Health Insurance Exchange

Summary of 2011 AARP Survey of Virginians 18+: State Health Insurance Exchange 2012 AARP Survey of New Jersey Registered Voters Ages 18-64 on the Development of a State Health Insurance Exchange

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These updates include our bi-weekly newsletter; webinars on data, evaluation, and reporting related to Affordable Care Act implementation; and other resources pertinent to state health

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You are receiving this email because you opted in at our web site Unsubscribe Test Email Address >> from this list. If you were forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to our email list, please visit our signup page at www.shadac.org/content/stay-updated. SHADAC is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help states monitor rates of health insurance coverage and to understand factors associated with uninsurance. Visit us online at www.shadac.org SHARE is a National Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund, synthesize and disseminate evaluations of state health reform. SHARE operates out of SHADAC. For more information, visit SHARE's web site, www.statereformevaluation.org. Copyright (C) 2012 State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) All rights reserved.