Bridging the Gap Between Data and KnowledgeTruburn Solutions

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research: AskCHIS

Client

The UCLA Center for Health Policy research started conducting the California's largest state-wide health survey California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) in 2001. CHIS provides health planners, policy makers, county governments, advocacy groups, and communities with a detailed illustration of the health-related needs facing California's diverse populous.

Challenge

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research recognized the advantage of making the CHIS data publicly available via the Internet to policymakers, researchers, journalists, advocates and community groups; however, accomplishing this goal while maintaining a usable format for non-statistically minded users was a challenge. Therefore, in order for the CHIS system to be successful, it would need to allow laypersons to easily maneuver the interface and gain access to health data from each survey (2001 - 2005).

Solution

The challenge was met by Truburn Solutions' managing partner, who was hired to develop AskCHIS, an Internet based system allowing public access to the survey data. The application was designed to seamlessly integrate complex statistical analyses, available to all public users. A SAS database was utilized to house the survey data and process users statistical requests. The website balances power with ease of use in allowing the user to choose from hundreds of health topics. The main health topic can then be compared to any other health topic. In addition, users can further customize their analyses according to various regions, and counties within California. The system provides users with graphical representations as well as easy to read tables, which can be customized according to individual specifications. When CHIS released the 2003 survey data, and subsequently 2005 as well, the application was updated to allow user integration and comparison across multiple time points.

Results

Since the system launch, AskCHIS has received lauding reviews from its thousands of users as well as professionals within the Public Health community. To date, over 200,000 queries have been run by users of AskCHIS since the application release. This tool has allowed policymakers, researchers, journalists, advocates and community groups to access health data from across California.

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