Free the Data: Websites That Show California Health Data

CHCF invites your recommendations for websites that make it easy to obtain health data for California and offer a curated view into the complex world of health metrics.

October 2012

CHCF is developing a comprehensive list of websites that provide easy access to California health data. These websites offer a curated view into the complex world of health metrics. We invite you to suggest additions in the comments area at the bottom of this page (login or registration required). This list will inform the work of CHCF's Free the Data initiative.

To be considered for inclusion, a site must present health or health care data for all or part of California; provide free, open access; use public-domain data (usually from government sources); and display data in an easy-to-understand format, such as in maps, graphs, tables, and so on, and not just raw data for download.

Website Sponsor Description
AskCHIS UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Provides data from the California Health Interview Survey by county and region.
CalHospitalCompare.org California HealthCare Foundation Rates quality of care, including clinical quality, patient experience, and patient safety for California hospitals.
California Healthcare Atlas California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development Provides information from OSHPD about hospitals and health care facilities.
CalQualityCare.org California HealthCare Foundation Information on California's long term care providers and quality ratings when possible.
Community Commons Advancing the Movement Lets users create custom maps using community-level health data. The service also offers roughly 20 starter maps on access to health care, health professional shortages, and other topics.
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps U. of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Offers rankings on health outcomes, clinical care, and other topics for counties in California and across the US. Also data and national benchmarks are available for a range of health-related measures.
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice Uses Medicare data to document variations in how medical resources are distributed and used. Provides information about national, regional, and local markets, as well as hospitals and affiliated physicians.
Find the Best Find the Best Offers data and rankings on nursing homes, hospitals, and dialysis centers nationwide.
HealthLandscape Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, American Academy of Family Physicians A mapping tool that allows health professionals, policymakers, researchers, and planners to combine, analyze, and display health care–related data.
Health System Data Center Commonwealth Fund Provides access to data from select Commonwealth Fund scorecards. Users can view location-specific rankings and results compared to benchmarks.
Health System Measurement Project US Department of Health & Human Services Tracks government data on critical US health system indicators. Includes national trend data as well as detailed views by age, sex, income level, and insurance status.
Healthcare Workforce Clearinghouse California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development Health care workforce data for California.
Healthy City Advancement Project A California-specific website that maps data at a local level and provides tools to help users locate a range of services.
Healthy Community Network Healthy Communities Institute Local-level websites with health dashboards for specific communities in California.
Home Health Compare US Department of Health & Human Services This listing of home health agencies includes data on quality of care and patient satisfaction.
Hospital Compare US Department of Health & Human Services Data on the quality of care at over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals nationwide.
Kids Count Data Center Annie E. Casey Foundation A national and state-by-state effort to track the well-being of children.
Kidsdata.org Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health

Local-level data about the health and well-being of California children.

Medicare.gov US Department of Health & Human Services Provides information on home health services, dialysis facilities, and health/drug plans, in addition to the hospital and nursing home rankings already noted in this list.
Nursing Home Compare US Department of Health & Human Services Allows consumers to compare quality information for 17,000 Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the country.
Primary Care Physician Mapper The Robert Graham Center (American Academy of Family Physicians) Illustrates the distribution of primary care physicians by state, county, and census tract.
Quality Report Cards California Office of the Patient Advocate Provides quality of care ratings for California's health insurance plans and medical groups.
RWJF DataHub Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health statistics that users can visualize, customize, and share.
SHADAC Data Center State Health Access Data Assistance Center, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Health Policy and Management Division of U. of Minnesota's School of Public Health Allows users to customize tables and graphs of health insurance coverage estimates.
Statehealthfacts.org Kaiser Family Foundation Provides health data on more than 700 topics.
WhyNotTheBest.org Commonwealth Fund Helps health care professionals track health care quality.

Reader Comments

How about California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) Healthcare Atlas, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 15 hospital quality indicators and 30 county quality indicators, heart surgery ratings for California hospitals and surgeons, hospital financial performance trends, and charges for common surgeries. OSHPD has more to offer too.

http://www.oshpd.ca.gov/
We're hoping people can suggest additions to this list. Please leave us a comment here to let us know what websites we should consider adding.

- Andy Krackov, CHCF Senior Program Officer