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Davern

Erin Davern joined SHADAC in 2026 and is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering. She is interested in health care policy research and data analysis.Outside of work, she enjoys all sorts of… Read More

Significance Testing Using State Health Compare

Originally published December 2016.Updated July 2026 by SHADAC Research Assistant Zoë Pringle.This technical brief provides guidance on how to run tests for statistically significant differences using estimates and their associated margins of error from SHADAC’s… Read More

H.R.1 Medicaid Implementation: An Administrative Cost Monitoring Guide for States (SHVS Cross-Post)

The following is cross-posted from State Health & Value Strategies.  Authors: Emily Zylla and Elizabeth Lukanen, SHADACOriginal posting date July 6, 2026. Find the full post here on the SHVS website. Passed in July 2025, H.R. 1 dictates several large-… Read More

How Does the U.S. Measure Child Vaccinations? A Look at the National Immunization Survey (NIS)—with New 2024 Data

The National Immunization Survey (NIS) is a vital resource for understanding child and adolescent vaccination coverage rates in the U.S., as well as perceptions of vaccines and potential reasons for vaccine hesitancy. The NIS is actually a group of surveys that are conducted in a partnership… Read More

Using Census Data via the Minnesota Community and Uninsured Profile to Spot Vulnerabilities

With funding from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) recently released an updated version of the Minnesota Community and Uninsured Profile tool. This tool, available for download here, now includes the most up-to-date data… Read More

Brief Series—Actionable Strategies for State Data Professionals Navigating Federal Data Gaps

In the wake of a dynamic environment for federal data infrastructure, state health policy professionals face growing uncertainties around the availability, scope, and quality of critical health surveys. To help state data users adapt to this changing federal data landscape, SHADAC’s State… Read More

Housing Affordability 2024 Infographics: State-Level Rates of Unaffordable Rent in Florida, Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont by Disability Status, Medicaid Enrollment, and More

On SHADAC’s data tool State Health Compare, our researchers and experts perform analysis on data from over 15 sources to populate 40+ measures of health care coverage, access, and utilization, and social and economic factors that can influence health, such as food… Read More

Housing Affordability in the United States: Exploring Unaffordable Rent in 2024 Using State Health Compare

As the cost of living in the U.S. continues to rise, housing and health care affordability have also been increasingly impacted. For example, a new resource from the U.S. Census Bureau used 5-year ACS estimates to determine that the median rent across the U.S. increased by $100 a month during 2020–… Read More

Broadband Expansion and the Digital Divide: Has There Been Progress in Expanding Access to Low-Income Households in the U.S.?

IntroductionThe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored and increased the importance of telehealth services to people across the U.S., as well as the crucial role of broadband internet subscriptions in making those services possible. Suddenly, in early 2020, actions designed to protect public… Read More

Painton

Elise Painton joined SHADAC in 2026 and is a second-year MPH student in the Public Health Administration and Policy program at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Her academic interests include the social and political determinants of health, legal epidemiology, and the role of… Read More

Virtual Meeting, June 23rd: Feedback to Help Inform SHADAC’s Upcoming State Health Data Workgroups

In response to concerns regarding the future of federal data infrastructure, collection, and quality, SHADAC launched the State Solutions for Health Data Continuity Project. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this project aims to study and… Read More

Amid Changes to Federal Statistical Agencies, SSRS EMERGE Survey Reveals Job Impacts and Widespread Concern Amongst Public Data Users

As part of the Emergency Mobilization for Essential Research and Government-Data Equivalents (EMERGE) initiative, SSRS conducted a survey better understand the impacts of changes to U.S. federal statistical agencies on data users in various industries and sectors. SSRS EMERGE Survey:… Read More

The Landscape of Employer-Sponsored Insurance Coverage in the United States

What is employer-sponsored insurance?Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) is health insurance coverage offered by employers to eligible employees, with coverage options also offered for employee spouses and families. Access to ESI has four components: ESI has… Read More

What Is Telehealth vs Telemedicine vs Telecare? Differences, History, and the Impact of COVID-19

Basics BlogSHADAC has created a series of “Basics Blogs” to familiarize readers with common terms, concepts, and topics that are frequently covered. See all Basics Blogs here.    Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth use has exploded. But what… Read More

2025 NHIS Half-Year Health Insurance Estimates Early Release: While Coverage Holds Steady Overall, Private Coverage Increases and Public Coverage Decreases for Certain Groups

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released the first health insurance coverage estimates for 2025 from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) as part of the NHIS Early Release Program. The rates of insurance and uninsurance captured in the report for the first half of the… Read More

April 2026—Updated Health Data Sets on State Health Compare: Explore Public Health Statistics and Health Data Visualizations

SHADAC’s State Health Compare is an online data visualization tool that allows users to explore and download health data sets and statistics. These data are broken down into measures that range from ‘Insurance Coverage Type’ to ‘Adult Smoking.’ Measures are divided into overall categories like “… Read More

Race/Ethnicity Data in CMS Medicaid (T-MSIS) Analytic Files: 2023 Data Assessment

The Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) is the largest national database of current Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiary information collected from all U.S. states, most territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands), and the District… Read More

Minnesota Community and Uninsured Profile Updated to Include 2024 American Community Survey Estimates

Thanks to the continued support from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, SHADAC is pleased to announce that the ‘Minnesota Community and Uninsured Profile’ has been updated with 2024 American Community Survey estimates. This resource, originally… Read More

Unaffordable Health Care Costs: More U.S. Adults Forgo Care Due to Cost in 2024, Differences Seen by State, Insurance Coverage Type, Chronic Disease Status

Concerns about unaffordable health care costs have been climbing for years, with Gallup reporting that Americans perceive cost of health care as the “most urgent health problem” facing the country, now ahead of concerns over access to health care and obesity (the 2nd and 3rd top health concerns for… Read More

New Minnesota Health Access Survey (MNHA) Data Show Sharp Increase in Uninsurance, Disproportionately Impacting Certain Groups

The latest data released from the Minnesota Health Access Survey (MNHA) show sharp increases in the uninsured rate in the state, increasing from 3.8% (a historic low) to 5.8% between 2023 and 2025. This is the highest that the rate has been in six years, and… Read More