Upcycling: Bringing new life to existing health data

From the Health Affairs Blog: By now, most of us are familiar with recycling. Items with reclaimable value are collected; then base materials are salvaged to create new products—often of lesser quality. Fewer people are familiar with the term upcycling, a form of recycling that involves reconceiving, and sometimes adding to, existing items with the …

CSCAR: Statistical consulting @ UM

The Center for Statistical Consultation & Research (CSCAR) provides free consulting in data analysis & statistical methods to all UM researchers.  We are able to assist with the design, analysis, interpretation, & communication of research studies involving data. CSCAR also presents workshops on statistical methods and software for data management & analysis.  Fall, Winter and …

Children’s EHR format available in USHIK

From the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHQR): The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’S) Children’s EHR Format has moved to the United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK). This  helps align the Children’s EHR Format with related knowledgebase information, such as IT artifacts related to meaningful use, health IT standards, & related clinical quality …

MEPS update

New data files & tables have been added to the  Medical Expenditure Panel Survey web site: MEPS 1996-2011 Pooled Linkage Variance Estimation File (MEPS HC-036) MEPS 1996-2011 Replicates for Variance Estimation File (MEPS HC-036BRR) 2011 Non-Group Health Insurance Tables (No. 6 Tables Series) Updated MEPS Household Component Summary Data Tables Technical Notes 2011 Expenditures by Medical Condition Tables Form …

Meaningful use updates in USHIK

From the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ): Meaningful Use Portal is the "one-stop shop" for Meaningful Use Stage 1 and Stage 2 Clinical Quality Measures, their computation logic, their data elements, & the vocabularies and codes the data elements may take on. This portal has been updated with new functionality: Contains updates to the Clinical …

Project Tycho – Data for health

Project Tycho, from the University of Pittsburgh (with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & the National Institutes of Health), is a database created to advance the availability & use of public health data for science & policy. The project has completed the digitization of the entire history of weekly Nationally Notifiable Disease …

New database from CMS: Medicare Provider Charge Data

The Department of Health & Human Services has created a database that for the first time gives consumers information on what hospitals charge.  The data, on the charges for services that are provided during the 100 most common Medicare inpatient stays and 30 common outpatient services, show significant variation across the country and within communities. For example, average inpatient …

Quandl: A new tool for datasets

Quandl is a new way to find & use data on the internet.   Quandl has indexed millions of time-series datasets--all open & free-- from over 400 sources. Download a Quandl dataset in any format that you want. Visualize, save, share, authenticate, validate, upload, index, merge, & and transform data. Here's an example of data on infanct mortality in Haiti, from …

New web site for USHIK database

The United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK) is an on-line, publicly accessible registry and repository of healthcare-related data, metadata and standards. USHIK is funded and directed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) with management support in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The web site was recently redesigned for clarity and …

How Low-Income Americans Experience Health Care: Ranking the States

From the Commonwealth Fund: The first-ever health system performance scorecard focusing on low-income Americans has one overriding message: where you live matters. The new Commonwealth Fund report Health Care in the Two Americas, along with the accompanying interactive map,provides the first state-by-state comparison of the health care experiences of the 39 percent of Americans earning less than …