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September 18, 2003 -- (Los Angeles) -- The California Endowment has provided a major grant to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research to help fund the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003), the largest statewide survey of its kind. CHIS 2003 will survey more than 40,000 households drawn from every county in the state, and will be conducted in five languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese.
The CHIS 2003 data, to be released later next year, is unique in its ability to track changes in health status, health behaviors, health insurance coverage and health care, for all racial groups and most large ethnic communities. Changes made in the survey since CHIS 2001 was conducted include expanded sections on asthma and physical disabilities, additional questions on the health of seniors, and new questions about housing and the neighborhood environment.
The California Health Interview Survey offers a unique snapshot of the health of Californians," said State Health Director Diana M. Bontá, R.N., Dr. P.H. "It reveals disparities in health status that are as diverse as the people who live here." CHIS is a collaborative effort of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the California Department of Health Services and the Public Health Institute.
Data and results from this biennial survey help local health departments, community health centers, hospitals, health plans, other health care providers, state health agencies, county boards of supervisors, community-based organizations, advocacy groups, and health researchers better meet the state's health care needs.
"The support of The California Endowment is critical to the success of this unique public health effort," said Dr. E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, principal investigator for CHIS and professor in the UCLA School of Public Health. "The California Health Interview Survey provides an important picture of health issues and needs within California's diverse population. The support of the California Endowment affirms the importance of this project in better understanding the health needs of our multicultural population and rural areas."
The new grant from The California Endowment will fund the CHIS 2003 sample of underserved communities, such as Asian ethnic groups, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and California's rural population. It also helps fund the development of new and expanded survey topics.
To accelerate the use of CHIS 2003 findings, The Endowment has commissioned special studies and reports, and is supporting a variety of activities to more widely disseminate results. In addition, The Endowment's funding will sponsor workshops to assist community agencies that want to directly access CHIS findings online using the innovative AskCHIS Internet site.
The first survey, CHIS 2001, was also conducted in multiple languages and surveyed 55,000 households across the State. Its data and results have generated many reports, policy briefs and fact sheets covering topics that include the health of young children, asthma, diabetes, the uninsured, women in managed care, racial and ethnic health insurance disparities, the delivery of sexually transmitted disease services, the health of Latinos, and hunger in California. All publications are available on the Internet and can be downloaded from www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu.
"CHIS 2001 has been an invaluable research tool for many communities seeking to gather ongoing, critical health information. It also has provided The Endowment with an essential baseline for measuring progress in health disparities among the state's underserved communities," said Alicia Lara, Vice President of Program for the Endowment.
The California Endowment's $3.9 million grant complements major support for CHIS from the California Department of Health Services, a core funder and major partner in the biennial survey. Other funding for CHIS 2003 has been provided by the National Cancer Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Disease Control (CDC), Office of the Patient Advocate, California Department of Social Services, Kaiser Permanente/Kaiser Foundation and LA Care. With the grant from The California Endowment, CHIS 2003 has received total funding commitments of $11.1 million.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, established in 1994, is one of the nation's leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. It is based in the UCLA School of Public Health and is also affiliated with the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research.
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