Assessing health status is a core function of public health on the state level. This report summarizes the data available in each state for health assessment, a necessary step in achieving public health goals. Using the leading indicators from Healthy People 2010, the authors found that while...

<I>Healthy People 2010</I> identifies the elimination of health disparities as a critical national goal. This article analyzes the availability of state and local data to support this goal. Researchers assessed data availability for the 10 leading health indicators, comprising a set of 26 measures, and...</i>

The federal government spent $79.7 billion more in 2005 to treat those with diabetes and care for its complications than it spent for those without diabetes—12 percent of total federal health care spending nationwide. A significant share of this spending is potentially avoidable, to the...

These summaries provide an overview of the mission, organization, and budget of every federal agency, including distinct units within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with a description and analysis of how each agency’s work relates to diabetes prevention,...

Healthy People 2010 identified eliminating health disparities as one of two overarching goals for the U.S., along with increasing quality and years of healthy life. This report examines North Carolina and Washington, two states that are making notable use of data to address disparities....

A new Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) chartbook summarizes the Medicaid program and the MAX data system. Developed for state Medicaid directors, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the Medicaid program, the chartbook is a research tool and reference guide on Medicaid enrollees...

This paper used data from the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study to identify disparities by race/ethnicity and obesity status in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and other beverages among United States schoolchildren. The analysis found that beverage consumption patterns...

This study estimated the mean calories from added sugars saved by switching sugar-sweetened beverages (including soda, fruit-flavored drinks, and sport drinks) and flavored milks consumed to unflavored low-fat milk (less than 1 percent fat) at meals and water between meals. These changes, which...

The Playworks program, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, places full-time coaches in low-income schools to provide opportunities for organized play during recess and throughout the school day. Using random assignment, Mathematica and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and...

This brief assesses the availability, completeness, and quality of the inpatient and prescription-drug encounter data in the MAX system in order to judge the data's usability.