Maine Shared Health Needs Assessment and Planning Process

Links to More Data

The 160 indicators in the Maine Shared Health Needs Assessment are intended to provide a broad assessment of the Health of Maine people.  However, there are other data that may be useful when exploring these issues further.  Below is a selection of websites that provide additional data.
Maine CDC:

  • The Maine Tracking Network:  https://data.mainepublichealth.gov/tracking/ “Environmental Public Health:  Improving Public Health with Better Information… view health and environmental data, including Air Quality, Asthma, Birth defects, Birth Outcomes Cancer, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Heat Illness, Lead Poisioning, Lyme Disease, Myocardial Infarction, private Well Water, and Public Water Supply.
  • The Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey: https://data.mainepublichealth.gov/miyhs/ The MIYHS is the result of collaboration between the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (Maine Center for Disease Control and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services) and the Maine Department of Education. Its purpose is to quantify the health of Kindergarten and Grade 3 students through parent interviews, and the health-related behaviors and attitudes of 5th through 12th graders by direct student survey.
  • Maine Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/data-research/brfss/index.shtml  Since 1987 Maine BRFSS has provided state-specific information about health issues such as asthma, diabetes, health care access, alcohol use, hypertension, obesity, cancer screening, nutrition and physical activity, tobacco use, and many more.  Federal, state and local health officials, and researchers use this information to track health risks, identify emerging problems, prevent disease, and improve treatment. 
  • Maine Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/data-research/prams/index.shtml PRAMS is an on-going, population-based surveillance system designed to identify and monitor selected maternal behaviors and experiences before, during, and after pregnancy among women who have recently given birth to a live infant. Data are collected monthly from women using a mail/telephone survey.
  • Maine Vital Statistics: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/data-research/data/index.html  Maine Vital Records include births, deaths, induced abortions, marriages, divorces and population estimates by town, as well as BRFSS and PRAMS survey data.
  • Maine Cancer Registry:  https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/population-health/mcr/index.htm The Maine Cancer Registry provides reports on incidence and mortality rates as well as information on risk factors, prevention and early detection of various cancers.
  • Maine Infectious Disease Epidemiology Program:  https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/publications/index.shtml  Posted here are reports that combine surveillance information for several infectious disease, including monthly graphs and annual reports. Also posted are manuscripts prepared by infectious disease epidemiologists and published nationally.

Maine Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services:

  • Maine State Epidemiology Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) Dashboard: https://www.maineseow.com/#/home Since 2011, Maine’s Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services has supported a Statewide Epidemiology Surveillance Workgroup (SEOW) to make data available for substance abuse prevention planning across a wide spectrum of audiences. … The dashboard is a web-based interactive data dashboard system to track progress in reducing underage and high risk drinking, marijuana use and prescription drug misuse.  Other SAMHS reports can also be found here.

Other Maine-based data sites:

  • Maine Health Index: https://www.mainehealthindex.org/  “The Health Index is an initiative of MaineHealth that monitors progress on Maine’s most pressing health priorities. Launched in 2008, the Health Index initiative uses health data to inform the needs and opportunities for improving health across the state.”
  • Maine Kids Count: https://www.mekids.org/kidscount  “Maine KIDS COUNT, a project of the Maine Children's Alliance, is part of the national KIDS COUNT network, a state-by-state effort funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the status of children across the United States… The major goal of the Maine KIDS COUNT project is to provide policymakers and citizens with meaningful, reliable, timely data regarding the well-being of children in Maine.”
  • Maine Health Management Coalition Healthcare Databook: https://www.mehmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/factbook_supplement_011416.pdf The first edition of the Healthcare Databook, published in October 2014, presented a range of information about the demographics and health status of Maine’s population, the utilization and delivery of healthcare in the state, and the quality and cost of care—all of which inform and shape the healthcare landscape in Maine, as well as efforts to improve it. This Supplement to the Databook provides updated data on several of the topics covered in the first volume, as well as some related information that was not included in the earlier edition. The Supplement was undertaken with funding from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services as part of the federal State Innovation Model (SIM) initiative, a three year project designed to catalyze efforts throughout the state to achieve the Triple Aim.

National data resources:

  • Healthy People 2020: https://www.healthypeople.gov/ Healthy People 2020 provides a comprehensive set of 10-year, national goals and objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Healthy People 2020 contains 42 topic areas with more than 1,200 objectives. A smaller set of Healthy People 2020 objectives, called Leading Health Indicators (LHIs), have been selected to communicate high-priority health issues and actions that can be taken to address them.
  • CDC Sortable Stats: https://sortablestats.cdc.gov/#/  “Sortable Stats is an interactive data set comprised of behavioral risk factors and health indicators. This data set compiles state-level data for the 50 states, DC and U.S. territories from various published CDC and federal sources into a format that allows users to view, sort, and analyze data at state, regional, and national levels.”
  • CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System:  https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/ The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the nation's premier system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services.
  • National Chronic Disease Indicators:  https://www.cdc.gov/cdi/  “The chronic disease indicators (CDI) are a set of surveillance indicators developed by consensus among CDC, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD). CDI enables public health professionals and policymakers to retrieve uniformly defined state and selected metropolitan-level data for chronic diseases and risk factors that have a substantial impact on public health.”
  • AHRQ’s H-CUPnet: https://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/  “HCUPnet is a free, on-line query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). It provides access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.”
  • CDC Wonder:  https://wonder.cdc.gov/ “Welcome to CDC WONDER -- Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research -- an easy-to-use, menu-driven system that makes the information resources of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) available to public health professionals and the public at large. It provides access to a wide array of public health information.” 
  • National Environmental Public Health Tracking System: https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showHome.action “The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network) is a system of integrated health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and city sources.”
  • CDC WISQARS™:  https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/ “CDC’s WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of trusted sources.”
  • US Census QuickFacts:  https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/  QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.
  • County Health Rankings: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/ “The County Health Rankings measure the health of nearly all counties in the nation and rank them within states.  The Rankings are compiled using county-level measures from a variety of national and state data sources. These measures are standardized and combined using scientifically-informed weights.”
  • America’s Health Rankings: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/ “This benchmark report is the longest-running, comprehensive state-by-state study of our nation’s health. Click on any of the 50 states to see its rank, strengths, and challenges. Understand how your state compares on healthy behaviors, determinants and outcomes.”
  • Community Commons: https://www.communitycommons.org/ “Community Commons is a place where data, tools, and stories come together to inspire change and improve communities. We provide public access to thousands of meaningful data layers that allow mapping and reporting capabilities so you can thoroughly explore community health.”