CHIS releases latest data on health and well-being of state's residents

The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the nation's largest state health survey and a primary source of information on California's diverse population, released its latest data today on more than 100 topics affecting the health and well-being of the state's residents.

The random-digit-dial telephone survey, conducted every two years by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, gathers essential information from tens of thousands of California households on a wide variety of topics, from health insurance and public program participation to diabetes, obesity and cancer screening.

The latest survey also includes new questions on suicide, emergency preparedness, medical homes, veteran status, registered domestic partner status, flu shots and pre-diabetes.

The data can be examined by state, region and county at www.askchis.com, the survey's free, easy-to-use online data search tool. (A quick tutorial on how to use the search tool is also available.)

Yesterday, Feb. 15, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released a related policy brief based on the new CHIS data showing that while 7 million Californians are currently uninsured, up to two-thirds of them - some 4.7 million residents - will likely become eligible for insurance coverage under the new health care reform law.

The CHIS data, collected in 2009 in the midst of the severe economic downturn, may also help provide a snapshot of California under duress. The various cycles of the survey - previous cycles were conducted for 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 - may also give policymakers, researchers, health experts and organizations, and the media a baseline from which to work as health care reform is implemented in 2014.

"CHIS, always an important tool, may now become essential as Californians work together to bring up to 4.7 million of our uninsured citizens under the umbrella of health care coverage," said CHIS director David Grant.

Survey respondents include adults, teenagers and children from a broad range of ethnic groups and socioeconomic levels. As such, CHIS represents the most reliable source of data on the health of Californians, as well as on many little-studied ethnic groups.