Date: 9/27/2012
Contact 1 Full Name: Gwendolyn Driscoll
Contact 1 Company: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Press Body:
For more than a decade, the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) collected and released data on a two-year schedule. Although that schedule enabled the survey to amass a large and highly representative sample of up to 50,000 Californians, it also meant a delay in gaining access to data that might help explain rapid changes in health status occasioned by, for example, the recent recession.
To make CHIS more responsive to changing events, the survey began to collect data continuously in 2011. What does this mean for CHIS data users?
• Two-year data still available: A full CHIS data cycle will take two years to complete and data will be released in the summer on roughly the same schedule as before in the form of Public Use Files (PUFs) and the popular online query tool, AskCHIS.
• New one-year estimates: Continuous data collection will allow CHIS to generate one-year estimates. These one-year estimates will be available at the state level and for some heavily populated areas within the state, but not for smaller geographic areas. Because of the smaller sample size of the one-year data, the Center will release these estimates through select Center products, including publications as well as through the Center’s easy-to-use Health Profiles fact sheets. There will be no PUF files available for one-year data nor will one-year data be available on AskCHIS.
• Access to one-year estimates: One-year estimates will be available for analysis through the Center’s Data Access Center (DAC). To learn more about how to apply to use confidential data, click here.
• Release of one-year CHIS estimates: Starting in 2013, we anticipate that one-year CHIS estimates will be released in the fall.
“Collecting data continuously, and releasing estimates on a yearly basis, will give policymakers, media, health advocates and others the tools they need to rapidly respond to changing events,” said CHIS Director David Grant. “At the same time, CHIS data users will still be able to gain a full understanding of trends and county-level data through access to the full two-year cycle of CHIS.”
Stay subscribed to Health Policy News in coming months for the release of 2011 one-year estimates!