2012 | Nebraska
State Rankings Contact
Jeff Armitage
Epidemiology Surveillance Coordinator
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health
(402) 471-7733
jeff.armitage@nebraska.gov
Data Guide
Finding Out More About Your Community’s Health
The County Health Rankings provides a snapshot of a community’s health and a starting point for investigating and discussing ways to improve health. Beyond the measures provided in the Snapshot and Additional Measures sections of this web site, other community health data are available from national and state organizations. We recommend reviewing the information in your community’s snapshot and then identifying key areas where you may wish to look for additional data. (Be sure to check out the Exploring the Data section so that you do not miss any of the information in our site.)
On the County Health Rankings Site:
1. Look at your Health Outcomes ranks and measures:
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How does your county rank and how do your measures compare to your state? To the national benchmarks? Keep in mind that each measure has a confidence interval or error margin surrounding it—if a measure is above the state average AND the state average is beyond the error margin for your county, then further investigation is recommended.
2. Next, look at your four Health Factors ranks:
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Is there one area where the rank is much lower than the others? If so, this may be a good place to start. Keep in mind that each area carries a different weight so before picking a focus area too quickly, consider both your relative rank and the contribution of each factor in our model of population health.
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Once you have identified one or more of the health factors to examine more closely, how do your county’s measures compare to your state averages? Again, keep in mind that each measure has a confidence interval or error margin surrounding it—if a measure is above (or below) the state average AND the state average is beyond the error margin for your county, then further investigation is recommended.
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If your county is doing relatively well compared to the state average, how does it compare to other counties in your state or to the national benchmark? This measure may still reflect an area with room for improvement.
3. If your county has a large enough population, think about other ways to view your data. Most of the data in the County Health Rankings describes your entire adult population. There may be additional data available for you to look at data by age, race/ethnicity, and/or ZIP code or neighborhood.
Note: Most of our measures are framed so that a high value is worse than a low value but there are few measures where a high value is better: diabetic screening, mammography screening, high school graduation, some college, access to healthy foods, access to recreational facilities.
On Other Sites
Once you’ve identified areas where you want to learn more, look below for state and national sources of health outcomes and factors data. The sources include
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government agencies such as state health and vital statistics departments;
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other local institutions such as universities, research organizations, and foundations; and
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federal government agencies.
The websites listed below provide a range of data services from simple searches to help users find county-level summary measures to more sophisticated tools that allow you to drill down and explore differences within communities:
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Many states offer county-level profiles that cover a single important topic or provide a general overview of public health issues, programs, and goals relevant to the state.
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Some states also offer online query systems that
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allow users to display information by race, ethnicity, geography, socioeconomic status, or other demographic characteristics and/or
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offer raw data files for further analysis using statistical or geographic information system (GIS) software which allow you to create customized maps or display trend data to give insight into change over time.
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The data sources listed below provide at least county-level data, summaries, or reports-- some query systems may provide additional levels of geographic detail including Census tract, zip code, or other administrative areas.
Nebraska Data Sources
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Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services: Statistical Profiles
- Nebraska’s County Profiles and Highlights provide demographic and economic data, and data on, educational attainment, violent crimes, leading causes of death, cancer incidence by site, leading reasons for hospitalization, sexually transmitted infections, mental health, infant mortality, low birth weight, birth defects, teen age births, percent of pregnant women who smoke, prenatal care, immunizations, behavioral risk factor prevalence, youth risk behaviors, water quality indicators, high blood level levels among children, health professionals in practice, health professional shortage areas, Medicaid eligibility and expenditures, and utilization of public health services by county.
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Nebraska Cancer Registry
- The Registry publishes regular reports that provide the most recent data on cancer incidence and mortality by county.
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Public Health Geographic Information System
- Nebraska provides GIS data on a range of issues including aging, behavioral health, medical response systems, HIV/AIDS, telehealth networks, sexually transmitted infections, and environmental information.
National Data Sources
Here is a summary of some key national data sources for further information on health outcomes and health factors. In addition, a more detailed summary of these data sources is available.
| National Data Sources | Types of Data Available | Specificity of Data Available |
Factors/Focus Areas and Examples of Indicators Available |
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American FactFinder: The website serves as a clearinghouse for information on social, economic, and housing characteristics, as well as the most recent demographic estimates from the American Community Survey.
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Public use data sets including demographic information from the Census, the American Community Survey, Other annual economic surveys. |
Data are available by state, county, ZIP code, city/town, combined statistical area, congressional district, public use microdata sample, and county subdivisions (cities, towns, villages, etc). Select indicators are available by race, ethnic, and ancestry groups at the county level. |
General demographics Built environment |
| CDC Wonder, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is an integrated information and communication system for public health. WONDER allows users to access statistical research data published by CDC, as well as reference materials, reports and guidelines on health-related topics. | Public-use data sets about mortality (deaths), cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, natality (births), census data and many other topics are available for query | Data are available by state and county. Mortality and birth data can be examined by gender, age, race and ethnicity. Mortality data can also be broken out by cause of death. |
Health outcomes • Cause-specific mortality rates • Leading causes of death for different age groups |
| Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI), developed by the Human Resources Service Administration (HRSA), provides over 200 health indicators at the county level. CHSI allows users to select a county and view a range of data published by different federal agencies. The site also suggests ‘peer counties’ that have similar demographic characteristics. | Summary tables showing demographics, summary measures of health, leading causes of death, measures of birth and death, relative health importance, vulnerable populations, environmental health, preventive services use, risk factors for premature death, and access to care. | Data are available by county. Infant mortality data are available for race/ethnic groups and leading causes of death data are available for race/ethnic groups and by age. |
General demographics Social and economic factors Environmental quality Clinical care |
| The Food Environment Atlas provides access to food environment indicators and gives users a spatial overview of communities’ ability to access healthy food using data from the Census Bureau, USDA, Department of Commerce, and other federal and local agencies. | Public use datasets and maps showing county-level access and proximity to grocery stores, availability of restaurants, health indicators (e.g. obesity and diabetes rates), local farm characteristics, and socioeconomic characteristics | Data and maps are available by state, county, FIPS code, region (Nielson) for different indicators. Maps are user-adjustable to show different regions from country-level to zip code. Racial and ethnic information is limited to county-level demographics. |
General demographics Social and economic factors Environmental quality Built environment |
| Kids Count, produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, tracks a range of demographic, health, and economic data on children and families and ranks states on the well-being of children. Kids Count allows users to view data within a state by county or compare ranks and indicators across states. | Summary tables by county featuring children-focused data on demographics, education, economic well-being, family and community, health, safety and risk behavior, and others. | Data are available by state and county. Racial and ethnic information is limited to county-level demographics. |
General demographics Social and economic factors Health Behaviors Built environment |
| The Health Indicators Warehouse, maintained by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, provides access to national, state, and community health indicators collected from many sources including Healthy People 2020, the County Health Rankings, Community Health Status Indicators, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. | Aggregated data, tables, trend charts, and maps from nearly 200 sources including national surveillance systems and surveys. | Depending on the indicator, data are available by race, ethnicity, gender, school grade, age, state, county, and other characteristics. Many indicators are available for multiple years. | Over a thousand indicators covering all outcomes and many factors and focus areas. |
| The Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute’s Local Disability Data for Planners provides estimates of disability and a number of related employment statistics from ACS public use files. County-level information is available in tables. | Summary tables show characteristics including age distribution, educational attainment, labor force participation, poverty, language spoken at home, and household characteristics split by households with a member with a disability and households without any members with a disability. | Data are available by state and county. |
General demographics Social and economic factors Built environment |
