Monitoring the Health Care Safety Net

Slide Presentation by Robert Seifert

On September 23, 2003, Robert Seifert made a presentation in the Web-Assisted Audioconference entitled Data Books for Monitoring the Safety Net.

This is the text version of Mr. Seifert's slide presentation. Select to access the PowerPoint® slides (188 KB).

Data Books for Monitoring the Safety Net

Robert Seifert
Policy Director
The Access Project
Boston, MA

Slide 1

Refreshment for the Data-thirsty

• Local data to monitor the safety net are needed but elusive
• Data books provide a common focal point for policy discussions
• Helps overcome the isolation of local health care systems and problems

Slide 2

The Value of Local Data

• Tell a local story
• Show variation within geographic areas
• Find peer communities that might serve as examples

Slide 3

This slide shows a bar graph describing The Value of Local Data: Limited English Proficiency in Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Census 2003 is the source. The y axis is the percentage speaking English less than very well, from 0 to 10, and the x axis has 3 bars: U.S., Connecticut, and Hartford. The percentage of speaking English less than very well in the U.S. is 8.1, 7.4 in Connecticut, and 7.3 in Hartford MSA.

Slide 4

This slide shows a bar graph describing The Value of Local Data: Limited English Proficiency within Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Census 2003 is the source. The y axis is the percentage speaking English less than very well, from 0 to 24, and the x axis has 4 bars: Hartford MSA, county, city, and residual. The percentage of speaking English less than very well in the Hartford MSA is 7.3, 8.8 in county, 22.0 in city, and 6.7 in residual.

Slide 5

The Elusiveness of Local Data

• Why don't you have . . . in the data book?
• The importance of multiple measures
  • As proxies
  • For strategic purposes

Slide 6

How to Use the Data

• For comparisons, as markers
• The beginning of the story, not the end
• Avoid the measurement trap
• Get the rest of the story directly from the community

Current as of February 2004

Internet Citation:

Data Books for Monitoring the Safety Net. Text Version of a Slide Presentation at a Web-assisted Audioconference. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulp/safetynetaud/sess1/seiferttxt.htm

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