CHARTing Health Information

Find a Federally Qualified Health Centers (U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration; current data)

Health Insurance (US Census Bureau; State level): This site covers health insurance data tools and tables pertaining to income poverty and health insurance; health insurance estimates; health insurance coverage; and health insurance estimates.

Code Red: The Critical Condition of Health in Texas (Task Force on Access to Health Care in Texas)
"Texas faces an impending crisis regarding the health of its population, which will profoundly influence the state’s competitive position nationally and globally... In the state, 25.1 percent of the population is without health insurance, the highest in the nation and growing. The increasing discrepancy between growing health needs and access to affordable health insurance coverage creates the conditions for a “perfect storm.”
In view of these serious challenges, ten academic health institutions created a Task Force on these issues. Task Force members also included small and large business employees, health care providers, insurers and consumers....."

Disparities in Health Insurance and Access to Care for Residents Across U.S. Cities (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research; 2000)
"U.S. metropolitan areas are characterized by pronounced disparities in rates of health insurance coverage and access to care. While it has been well documented that people with lower incomes run a greater risk of being uninsured than those with higher incomes, this study also finds a strong relationship between a city’s rate of employer-sponsored health coverage and its overall rates of health coverage and access to care."

Uninsured Data (St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities)
Maps and reports can be generated to show data by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and poverty status.

Hospital Compare (US Health & Human Services; October 2005 through September 2006; hospital level data)
"This website was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) along with the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). The HQA is a public-private collaboration established to promote reporting on hospital quality of care....." Includes data on Surgical Infection Prevention, Heart Attack, Heart Failure, and Pneumonia.

The Leapfrog Group
Compare hospitals for patient safety and safety of selected procedures. The Leapfrog Group is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America’s health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded.

HealthGrades (HealthGrades)
Find doctor, hospital, and nursing home ratings.

Quality Check (Joint Commission)
The Joint Commission has had a longstanding commitment to providing meaningful information about the comparative performance of accredited organizations to the public. In 1994, The Joint Commission first published organization-specific Performance Reports. In 1996, Quality Check®, a directory of Joint Commission accredited organizations and performance reports, became available on the website.

The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care (Dartmouth (US) Medical School; dates vary but most current is 2003; hospital level data)

• Data By Region
• Data by Hospital
• Data by Topic
• Key Issues
  Includes: Medicare Spending, Supply-Sensitive Care, Preference-Sensitive Care, Effective Care, Physician Workforce, End-of-Life Care, Racial Disparities, Accountable Care, Reflections on Variations, and International
• Publications
  Includes: Atlases & Reports, and Research Articles

Reports on HMO Performance by Region (Texas Health Care Information Council; 1998 to 2004; regional level data)
Learn more about the performance of your HMO with these reports.

Supply & Distribution of Health Professionals in Texas (TX Department of State Health Services; 2008)
The tables found here INCLUDE ONLY persons who are licensed with their Texas board and are actively working in their profession. Retired, inactive, or working out-of-state professionals are not included.

Health Professional Shortage Areas Database (U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration; current data; Census tract and county level data)
This database has the most current data containing information on those areas that are designated as having a health professional shortage. Data is listed by date of HPSA designation. The TDSHS reports (below) provide basic data for the entire county; this tool provides data for Census tracts where appropriate. Shortages of three professions are recognized by this program: primary medical care M.D.s and D.O.s, dentists, mental health professionals. Generally, there are three major components of the federal HPSA criteria: 1) Rational service area; 2) Population-to-physician ratio; and 3) Accessibility of populations to primary care resources in surrounding areas.

MUA/MUP (Medically Underserved Areas & Medically Underserved Populations) Database (US Health Resources & Services Administration; Census tract level)
Medically Underserved status is designated to areas or populations having a shortage of personal health services according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' rules.

• Areas (MUAs). Eligibility for designation as an MUA is based on the demographics of the entire population in an area compared to national statistics for four health care demand/resource indicators:
  • Percentage of elderly population (over 65 years)
  • Poverty rate
  • Infant mortality rate
  • Ratio of primary care physicians per 1,000 population
  • These four indicators are converted to weighted values. The sum of the four weighted values equals the Index of Medical Underservice (IMU) score. Areas with IMU scores equal to or less than the national average IMU (62.0) are designated as underserved.
• Populations (MUPs). MUP IMU scores are calculated in the same manner as for MUAs. However, the specific population for whom the MUP is calculated represents only a portion of the area's entire population. These specific populations encounter barriers to primary care access. The barriers may be economic (e.g., low income or Medicaid-eligible populations, low income population) or sociologic (cultural, linguistic)

Health Professions Resource Center (HPRC) (Texas Department of State Health Services)

• Health Professional Shortage Areas in Texas (current data)
• Publications (Note: These are all PDFs)

Last Updated: 12/08/23