CDC Updates Community Health Website

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released, today, the updated Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) online tool that produces public health profiles for all 3,143 counties in the United States. Each profile includes key indicators of health outcomes, which describes the population health status of a county and factors that have the potential to influence health outcomes, such as health care access and quality, health behaviors, social factors and the physical environment.

The re-designed online application includes updated peer county groups, health status indicators, a summary comparison page, and U.S. Census tract data and indicators for sub-populations (age groups, sex and race/ethnicity) to identify potential health disparities. In this new version of CHSI, all indicators are benchmarked against those of peer counties, the median of all U.S. counties, and Healthy People 2020 targets.

Organizations conducting community health assessments can use CHSI data to:

• Assess community health status and identify disparities;
• Promote a shared understanding of the wide range of factors that can influence health; and
• Mobilize multi-sector partnerships to work together to improve population health

To access CHSI, visit wwwn.cdc.gov/communityhealth. You will find a comparison summary for Montgomery County here.

About Sonya Burke

Sonya Burke is the Multimedia Manager at Montgomery Community Media (MCM). You can email story ideas at sburke@mymcmedia.org or reach her on Twitter @SonyaNBurke.

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