Emily Hest
Communications Associate

e hestx008@umn.edu

Now Available on State Health Compare: Five Updated Measures and One Brand New Measure

Estimates for five measures of health care access, affordability, and use have now been updated on SHADAC’s State Health Compare web tool. One new measure, Had Dental Visit has also been added to the tool. The new and updated measures are all produced using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). SHADAC produces these state-level measures using restricted-access data through the Minnesota Research Data Center (MnRDC). SHADAC’s State Health Compare is the only source of state-specific data for these measures which are essential for monitoring individuals’ access to and use of medical care, along with their ability to afford care.

These measures now contain data updated through 2020, using two-year pooled periods (i.e., 2017-2018, 2019-2020). The measures can be broken down by Total, Age, and Coverage Type (Public, Private, Uninsured). Additional breakdowns—such as Race and Ethnicity—will be highlighted within future SHADAC blogs as they become available.

Updated and new measures include:

NEW: Had Dental Visit
This measure describes the percent of individuals who had a dental examination or cleaning during the past twelve months.

Had Usual Source of Medical Care
This measure captures rates of individuals who had a usual place of medical care other than an emergency department during the past twelve months.

Had General Doctor or Provider Visit
This measure provides rates of individuals who had any visit to a general doctor or provider within the last year.

 

Had Emergency Department Visit
This measure looks at rates of individuals who had any type of visit to an emergency department in the past twelve months.

 

​Trouble Paying Medical Bills
This measure examines rates of individuals who had trouble paying off medical bills during past twelve months for the civilian non-institutionalized population.

 

Made Changes to Medical Drugs
This measure highlights rates of individuals who were prescribed medication in the past twelve months who made changes to medical drugs because of cost during the past twelve months for the civilian non-institutionalized population. This includes delaying filling a prescription, taking less medicine, or skipping medication doses to save money.

 

Click here to explore these measures on State Health Compare!

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Data Sources
The estimates were produced using restricted NHIS data in the MnRDC. Measures have been updated with data through 2020 using two-year pooled periods, including (a) 2017-2018 and (b) 2019-2020.