An interactive tool for Northern California hospitals was recently launched to help spotlight the health needs in the Capital Region. The Web site (Health Map of the Capital Region) features interactive maps and data comparisons to assist users in locating hospitals and health clinics by county or ZIP code, as well as to track rates of health conditions, such as childhood obesity and asthma, iHealthBeat reports.
The four not-for-profit health systems (i.e. Kaiser Permanente, Mercy, Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region, and UC Davis Health System) provided this site as a service to their community partners and the general public.
The data used by this site came from several sources:
- Demographic data: based on the 2000 census but are estimates for the year 2005 for individual zip codes.
- Youth obesity numbers: from the California Department of Education.
- “Cause of death” rates: California Department of Public Health.
- Data for computation of hospitalization and emergency room visit rates: California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
- “Medi-Cal eligibles”: California Department of Healthcare Services.
Dates reported for 2005 or the 12 months ending June 2006.