Attach 3 CHIS Making An Impact

Attachment 3
CHIS Making an Impact (Brief)

CHIS Making an Impact 
The California Health Interview Survey is an invaluable resource  
for building healthier communities 

H

ealth care reform. Health insurance coverage. Chronic diseases. Health disparities. On a
broad range of important health topics, the
California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data
and results are invaluable tools for policymakers
at the local, state and national levels. Health advocates, media, health care providers, foundations and researchers also depend on this rich
source of population-based data for critical
health information.
Beginning in 2001, CHIS has been conducted every two years by the UCLA Center for
Health Policy Research in collaboration with the
California Department of Public Health, the
California Department of Health Care Services
and the Public Health Institute.

Supporting New Efforts to Cover 
the Uninsured  
California state government officials, as well as
local agencies and advocacy groups, rely on
CHIS data to support their efforts to expand
health coverage to the uninsured – especially
uninsured children.
California Health Care Reform
Both California Governor Schwarzenegger’s
office and Democratic legislators used CHIS
data to develop health care reform proposals.
Governor Schwarzenegger also held a press
conference at UCLA in which he cited a cornerstone CHIS publication – The State of Health
Insurance in California – as important evidence
of the need for health care reform.
California State Senate Health Committee
staff used CHIS data to assess coverage effects
of each proposal. The Legislative Analyst Office
used CHIS data to analyze the Governor’s
health care reform proposal for state legislators

and for the report, The 2007-08 Budget: Perspectives and Issues. Advocacy groups on all
sides of the issue also relied on CHIS data to
inform their positions and craft their arguments.
First 5 County Commissions
More than a dozen First 5 county commissions –
created by California voters to direct tobacco tax
revenues to promote early childhood development – have used CHIS data to develop new
public-private expansion programs for children
ineligible for private insurance, Medi-Cal or
Healthy Families. In most cases, CHIS has been
the only data source available. First 5 agencies
from Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San
Joaquin, Marin, San Luis Obispo and Tulare
counties have relied on CHIS data to advocate
for and plan these expansion projects, as has a
coalition of commissions from Sacramento,
Colusa, El Dorado, Yolo and Yuba counties.
The United Way
The United Way and its partners have used
CHIS data on a variety of omnibus reports used
to influence policy throughout California. In
their annual State of the County report on quality of life in Los Angeles, The United Way used
CHIS data to describe health insurance coverage. In their East Bay Indicators report, CHIS
data was used to describe health insurance coverage and affordability, as well as health access
and utilization and chronic health conditions.
State and Local Health Insurance Expansion
More than two dozen counties have developed
“Healthy Kids” programs – public-private partnerships to cover those not eligible for Medi-Cal
or Healthy Families. County agencies used
CHIS data to estimate the number of children
who would benefit from their programs and to
develop their proposals, plan their programs and
advocate for program funding.

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Combating Obesity, Promoting  
Food Security  
CHIS data are used by lawmakers to support new laws and
policies designed to promote healthier attitudes towards
diet and nutrition.
 A recent UCLA Center for Health Policy Research policy

brief on soda consumption and its link to obesity sparked
widespread media coverage and prompted Sen. Alex
Padilla (D-Los Angeles) to announce he would hold legislative hearings on the issue, while San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newson proposed a soda tax on retailers.
 “Get Kern Moving,” a program to encourage exercise

across Kern County, was created by the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program after an organizer used CHIS to understand the environmental factors
contributing to obesity in local neighborhoods.
 The California Community Foundation used CHIS data

to encourage heart-healthy choices on neighborhood restaurant menus.
 The Los Angeles Department of City Planning and the

City Attorney used CHIS data in a UCLA Center for
Health Policy Research publication, Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and
Obesity and Diabetes, to help draft a City ordinance prohibiting the establishment of new fast food restaurants in
South Los Angeles.
 The National Association of Latino Elected and

Appointed Officials (NALEO) asked that their staff be
trained to use CHIS data to formulate public policies focused on asthma and obesity prevention.
 A policy brief on food insecurity by the UCLA Center for

Health Policy Research and the California Food Policy
Advocates prompted then-Assemblyman Darrell
Steinberg to introduce AB 231 to increase participation in
the federal food stamp program.

Preventing Chronic Diseases  
CHIS is widely used both to track chronic diseases, such as
asthma and diabetes, and to stimulate and guide prevention
action and policies.
 The California Diabetes Program (CDP) relies on CHIS

data to measure county-level prevalence of diabetes and
receipt of disease management services. CHIS was the
only source of local health data relevant to this effort to
measure risk factors and burden related to diabetes.
 Community Advocates in Solano County successfully

argued against developing another truck stop along I-80
in the county based on CHIS 2001 data estimates that
showed Solano County to have the state’s highest rate of
asthma symptom prevalence overall and one of the highest rates for children.

CHIS and California Health Care Reform Efforts 

At  a  UCLA  press  conference,  Governor  Arnold  Schwar‐
zenegger  used  a  cornerstone  CHIS  publication  –  The 
State of Health Insurance in California  – to  draw atten‐
tion to his health care reform efforts. Holding the report, 
the  Governor  said  it    illustrated  “that  we  must  fix  this 
system, and we must fix it now.” Both the Governor and 
Democratic  legislators  have  subsequently  drawn  upon 
CHIS  data  to  formulate  their  evolving  plans  for  compre‐
hensive  health  care  reform.  The  SHIC  report  alone  was 
downloaded nearly 28,000 times during the high point of 
reform  efforts.  CHIS  staff  assisted  legislators  from  both 
political parties with customized data and supplemented 
those  requests  with  CHIS‐based  policy  briefs  and  facts 
sheets,  offered  free  of  charge.  Throughout  the  process, 
CHIS was used as a credible, relevant and universally ac‐
cepted  data  source  by  legislators  and  advocacy  groups 
working on all sides of the issue. No other single health 
survey played such a central role in powering the debate 
on the critical issue of health care reform. 
 The Regional Asthma Management and Prevention

(RAMP) Initiative, funded by The California Endowment, relies on CHIS data and analyses to support the
work of nearly a dozen regional programs.
 The California Health Benefits Review Program uses

CHIS data in its mandated analyses of legislative bills
that propose new benefits to be required in all health insurance plans, including bills that would mandate childhood asthma management programs, mental health services, cancer screening and control services and others.
 The Central California Children’s Institute used CHIS

data to develop reports and indicators on childhood
asthma, child health insurance and other topics.
 The Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California

State University, Fresno has used CHIS data in many
studies that examine key health issues and shape policy in
the San Joaquin Valley.
 Monterey, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Kern and other coun-

ties use CHIS data to develop reports and support programs on issues ranging from the prevalence of childhood
asthma to ‘scorecards’ on obesity and overweight.

Obtaining Funding to Improve 
Access to Care 
CHIS data are used by local agencies and community clinics to support their efforts to obtain funding to serve lowincome families and individuals.
 The Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles

County uses CHIS data in its advocacy and planning

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activities, and in its proposals to government agencies
and foundations in support of its 41 member community
clinics and health centers.
 The San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium and

San Francisco Department of Public Health used CHIS
Service data to develop their federally funded Community Access Program, a project to improve access to care
for San Francisco’s indigent and uninsured.
 CHIS data helped the Fresno Metro Ministry secure fund-

ing from the USDA for its Food Security Project.

Building Healthier Communities 
Local governments and organizations continue to discover
new ways to integrate CHIS data into their individual
health-related projects in their communities.
 First 5 San Diego used CHIS data in its planning to allo-

cate $6 million for efforts to enroll uninsured eligible
children in existing programs.
 Health policy researchers at the University of California,

Berkeley used CHIS data in the first study to compare
measures of mental health and general well-being among
California’s county populations.
 The Great Valley Center in California’s Central Valley

region used CHIS data to assess more than two dozen
regional health care indicators in The State of the Great
Central Valley: Public Health and Access to Care.

Using Data to Better Serve 
Ethnic Communities 
Because of its size, sample design, and ability to reach
households in several languages, CHIS is of great value to
those seeking to identify the health needs of ethnic communities in California and beyond.
 The Indian Health Service used CHIS data to testify be-

fore the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs
about suicide rates among American Indians.
 University of California, Irvine researchers used CHIS

data to determine expanded need for mental health services for older Vietnamese. The results are published in
Older Vietnamese More At-Risk for Poor Mental Health.

 The Office of Multicultural Health at the California De-

partment of Public Health used CHIS data for legislative
analyses of Assembly Bill 1963 (to encourage the use of
promotores de salud and community health workers to
assist rural and underserved communities) and Assembly
Bill 9 (to address disparities in the delivery of health services to multicultural populations in specific areas of Los
Angeles County), among other legislation.
 Stanford University’s Center for Biomedical Ethics used

CHIS data to measure racial and ethnic disparities in cancer screening for an article that appeared in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the
American Association for Cancer Research.

Supporting Vital Research on Health 
Policies and Health Disparities 
Researchers in the California Department of Public Health,
other State agencies, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), universities
and other research organizations have been using CHIS
data for studies on many important health issues.
 The National Cancer Institute used CHIS data in the crea-

tion of its HD*Calc, statistical software used to evaluate
and monitor health disparities.
 More than 100 studies using CHIS data have been pub-

lished in peer-reviewed journals and demonstrate the survey’s wide applicability.
To learn more about studies using CHIS data, visit the
CHIS Research Clearinghouse at www.chis.ucla.edu/rc.

Reaching the Community 
CHIS data, offered free of charge, continues to prove its
value as a public service tool for researchers, health experts, policymakers and the media.
 In the 12 months ending September 2009, the CHIS Web

site (and the Web site of the UCLA Center for Health
Policy Research, where many CHIS publications are
posted) had approximately 630,279 total visits.
 CHIS experts and/or CHIS data are quoted in hundreds of

 The National Cancer Institute (NCI) uses CHIS data to

better understand how cancer impacts Chinese, Filipino,
Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian ethnic populations,
as well as American Indian-Alaskan Natives.
 The Asian Pacific American Legal Center used CHIS to

produce demographic profiles of the Asian and Pacific
Islander populations.
 United American Indian Involvement used CHIS data in

a successful competitive grant application to the Indian
Health for a Diabetes Primary Prevention Demonstration
project in Los Angeles County.

CHIS and AHRQ 
CHIS  was  selected  by  the  federal  Agency  for  Healthcare 
Research  and  Quality  (AHRQ)  as  the  only  subnational  
population  survey  to  be  included  in  its  National  Health‐
care Disparities Report.   

AHRQ  selected  CHIS  because  it  provides  robust  samples 
of Asian and Latino ethnic groups that are unavailable in 
national  surveys,  and  it  provides  cutting‐edge  measures 
related to ethnicity, immigration and culture. 

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media outlets each year, ranging from NBC, CBS and
Fox News, to The New York Times and Los Angeles
Times, to regional media such as KPCC, KPBS, La Opinion and The Sacramento Bee.
 More than 2,000 representatives from over 800 organiza-

tions in California have been trained to use CHIS statistics by the Center’s Health DATA program.

Recognizing Excellence 
CHIS’s contributions to public service, as well as its
groundbreaking and rigorous survey methods, are recognized nationally.
 CHIS won the 2006 American Association for Public

Opinion Research Award for Policy Impact, which recognizes “outstanding research that has had a clear impact on
improving policy decisions, practice, and discourse, either in the public or private sectors.”
 CHIS, as part of a group, won the 2008 National Insti-

tutes of Health Merit Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to multicultural survey methods.
 The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s data

training team was awarded the American Cancer Society’s “Special Recognition Award” for its support of an
initiative to increase awareness and policy around cancer.
The team drew on CHIS data for the initiative.

Unparalleled Access 
Results and data files from CHIS are available in a variety
of ways to anyone with an interest in public health issues:
 Reports, policy briefs and fact sheets in print and online

free at www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu.
 AskCHIS, an easy-to-use free online data query system

available at www.chis.ucla.edu.
 Public-use data files and accompanying documentation

can be downloaded free from www.chis.ucla.edu and are
also available on CD-ROM.
 Technical assistance through regional workshops and

consultation is available to organizations and researchers
using CHIS data.

CHIS  Is  a  Key  Resource  for  Data  About  Ethnic 
and Other Subgroups 
Because  CHIS  offers  large  samples  of  ethnic  and  other 
subgroups,  researchers  rely  on  CHIS  data  to  study  dis‐
parities  in  health  and  health  behaviors.  For  example,  a 
recent  article  in  the  journal  Academic  Pediatrics  used 
CHIS  data  to  examine  parental  concerns  about  develop‐
ment, learning and behavior for young children of Mexi‐
can  origin  and  identified  whether  concerns  differ  by 
families'  citizenship/documentation  status.    Another 
study,  published  in  BMC  Psychiatry,  used  CHIS  data  to 
examine whether gender and sexual orientation affected 
the use of services to treat psychiatric problems such as 
mental health and alcohol and drug disorders.  
 UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s Data Access

Center (DAC) enables researchers to work with confidential files in a secure environment. The DAC also offers
programming and statistical consulting services.

Scope and Relevance 
The sheer size of CHIS makes it relevant to researchers and
organizations interested in a wide range of health topics.
CHIS data has appeared in hundreds of journal articles, reports, issue briefs and other publications including:
 Healthy People 2010: A 2007 Profile of Health Status

in the San Joaquin Valley (Central Valley Health Policy
Institute)
 California Scorecard 2008 (Children NOW)
 Fact Sheet: California’s Uninsured Children (100%

Campaign)
 California Children’s Health Coverage (100% Cam-

paign)
 America’s Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health

and Health Care (Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies)
 Construction: Working Without a Healthcare Net

(Center for Policy Initiatives)
 Aging in the San Joaquin Valley: Present Realities

Getting Out the Data 

 6,614: People who have obtained CHIS data through 

AskCHIS in 12‐month period ending September 2009 
  410,188: Number of data queries 

    made on AskCHIS since 2002 
  9,960: Downloads of CHIS Public 
    Use Files since 2002 
  204: Number of CHIS research projects being tracked 
  by the Research Clearinghouse (www.chis.ucla.edu/rc). 

and Future Prospects (Central California Institute for
Healthy Aging)

Learn More 
For information about the California Health Interview
Survey, please visit www.chis.ucla.edu.
Specific questions can be emailed to [email protected].
To use AskCHIS, go to www.askchis.com.

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