Web Tool Enables Neighborhood-Level Health Status Analysis

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has launched a new online tool that will enable healthcare providers, public health officials, journalists, and the general public to analyze Californians’ health status down to the neighborhood level.


The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has launched a new online tool that will enable healthcare providers, public health officials, journalists, and the general public to analyze Californians' health status down to the neighborhood level.

The tool, called AskCHIS Neighborhood Edition (AskCHIS NE), is a more granular version of the center's California Health Interview Survey, the nation’s largest state health survey. AskCHIS NE enables users to customize searches, compare, and “pool” small geographic areas by ZIP code, city, and legislative district, and map and chart their results.

AskCHIS NE covers a wide range of health topics, including rates of health insurance, chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes, behaviors like smoking and physical activity, quality of children’s health, and access to healthcare and mental healthcare.

"Using the system’s pooling feature, hospitals can build health profiles of their service areas, combining ZIP codes or cities," center officials said. "Community groups can decide which programs to offer at parks based on a neighborhood’s specific health needs. Journalists can compare obesity rates in neighborhoods they cover."

AskCHIS NE query results can be exported into Excel spreadsheets, but AskCHIS NE also allows users to download the charts and maps for use in reports and presentations, and makes HTML coding available for use in online media. The tool is sponsored by grants from Kaiser Permanente and the California Wellness Foundation.

The tool is available here (login required).

More for you

Loading data for hdm_tax_topic #better-outcomes...