VHHA updates online community health legislative dashboard tool

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association has overhauled its well-received Community Health Legislative Dashboards – an interactive online tool for reviewing key population and health statistics by region throughout the Commonwealth.

First unveiled last year, the newly redesigned dashboard tool retains all the user-friendly elements that enable online visitors to evaluate Virginia health and demographic data sorted geographically. The dashboard tool has been visually streamlined, updated with more recent health data and demographic statistics, and its responsiveness has been enhanced.

When users select a Virginia General Assembly member through the tool, the dashboard page is populated with county- and city-level demographic data and statistical health markers corresponding to communities overlapping legislative districts. Information fields on the dashboard include population figures; educational attainment and unemployment rates; local hospital admissions; charity care provided by local hospitals; community physician figures; adult obesity data, smoking rates, and premature deaths; the percentage of uninsured area residents; and mortality rates due to chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and lower respiratory disease.

Providing the public and policymakers with ready access to this easy-to-use tool is consistent with VHHA’s goal to inform people and facilitate dialogue about enhancing population health and well-being as part of the Association’s mission to make Virginia the healthiest state in the nation, explained VHHA President and CEO Sean T. Connaughton.

“Improving health outcomes in Virginia is a shared goal among Virginia’s community hospitals and health systems. Working towards that requires engagement in the public and private sectors, and by everyday Virginians. Having accurate data on health metrics in the Commonwealth is important to helping guide improvement work,” said Connaughton. “VHHA’s online Community Health Legislative Dashboards support such efforts. Built by VHHA’s data and research team, the dashboard tool features regularly updated health and demographic data for communities overlapping Virginia’s 100 House of Delegates districts and its 40 state Senate districts. In addition to supplying data with the ease of a mouse click or key stroke, the dashboard tool also provides users with clear explanations about each metric. The dashboards are a useful tool, and I encourage the public to explore them.”

The dashboard tool is a fixture on VHHA’s website. It gathers data from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Virginia Health Department, Virginia Health Information, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others.