Arundel Metrics
Creating America's Health Rankings for Over 30 Years
by Sofia Pozsonyiova
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Introduction:
Introduction:
In the Fall of 2019, I was given the opportunity to volunteer at Arundel Metrics, a small public health communications firm in Saint Paul, MN. I learned about this position through Alexia Málaga, a Macalester Alumni, at one of CGH's career panels! So a little about Arundel Metrics: Thomas Eckstein founded Arundel in 1985 with the mission of distilling and transforming complex health, economic and population data into more understandable and actionable reports. To this day, Arundel follows his original mission and provides individuals, communities, and leaders all across the nation with clear, concise, and insightful information.
Arundel best translates their mission through America’s Health Rankings Reports which consist of the Senior Report, the Health of Women and Children Report, the Veterans Report, and the Annual Report. The findings within each of the reports are meant to spark dialogue that will lead to actionable steps. The Annual Report is the longest standing report and has been used by policy-makers, public health officials and community leaders for the past three decades as a roadmap to better understand the strengths and challenges in their own states and at the national level. I was fortunate enough to work with the Arundel Metrics team to help compile the 2019 Annual Report which marked the report's 30th anniversary.
The Annual Report:
The Annual Report:
The Annual Report is the longest running annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis and has been around for nearly three decades. The report analyzes a comprehensive set of behaviors, health policies, community and environmental conditions, and clinical care data to provide a better understanding of the health of the people in the nation.
The report is created using nineteen different data sources to produce thirty-five key health-related measures across five categories of health. The thirty-five key measures are used to rank each state which helps create widespread awareness of where states stand on important health measures. Some notable measures are e-cigarette usage, severe housing problems, and chronic illnesses. The five major health categories which the key measures fall into include: behaviors, community and environment, policy, clinical care, and health outcomes. *Seen on the right
The objective is to improve health by:
Providing a benchmark for states by presenting trends, key findings, and strengths of every state.
Driving change and simulating action by promoting data-driven discussions among policymakers, public health officials, and leaders.
Highlighting disparities through the rankings system.
*Source: UHF 2020
Key Findings:
Key Findings:
The states are ranked according to the score derived from the 35 measures across all the five categories of health.
National Successes:
National Successes:
Smoking among adults decreased 45% since the first Annual Report in 1990 (from 29.5%) and 6% in the past year (from 17.1%). Today, 16.1% of adults smoke, well above the Healthy People 2020 national goal to reduce smoking to 12.0% of adults.
The percentage of children living in poverty continues to improve, significantly decreasing 2% in the past year (18.4% to 18.0%) and down 20% since the peak in 2013 (22.6%)
National Challenges:
National Challenges:
Since 2012, suicide rates have significantly increased nationally from 12.4 to 14.5 deaths per 100,000 (Figure 11) as well as in 30 states.
Since 2007, drug deaths increased 104% from 9.4 to 19.2 deaths per 100,000, well above the Healthy People target to reduce drug-induced deaths to 11.3 deaths per 100,000 by 2020.
My Role:
My Role:
Stage 1: Data Analysis
Stage 1: Data Analysis
Given that my background is more in data science and statistics, I spent a lot of time working directly with our data. Initially, my time was spent pulling the data from our sources and then performing data checks. These checks included making sure that our documents are pulling the right information, that the algorithms are all correct, and that we are performing the correct calculations. I really enjoyed this part of the process as I am a more data-oriented individual.
Stage 2: Translating Results
Stage 2: Translating Results
After the data portion was completed my role switched to helping write portions of the report. This role consisted of translating technical findings into plain language. This aspect of the process was truly a challenge, and there were days that I would spend at least an hour trying to write one sentence. Writing took me such a long time because you had to be extremely cautious about the language you were using. For example, when describing our diabetes measure I wrote “ Since the start of the report, diabetes prevalence among adults increased 148% from 4.4% to 10.9%.”, but was advised that it was sufficient enough to just say “Diabetes rates have increased”. This by far was the most challenging part of the process.
Stage 3: Compiling Report
Stage 3: Compiling Report
After the writing portion was completed the last couple of weeks were spent proofreading and doing last-minute edits!
Takeaways:
Takeaways:
Overall, working with the Arundel Metrics team was an amazing experience. Throughout my internship I was constantly challenged especially through helping create the report. I learned that one of the hardest challenges with public health communication is the fact that you have to be cautious about the language you are using which I learned is extremely difficult to do when you are only trained in technical writing. However, having this experience was immensely valuable as it made me realize how few people are actually versed in technical language and learned how something as subtle as utilizing plain language can empower so many. As a result, a new goal of mine is to make sure that when I am communicating my own research that I am doing it in an inclusive manner. That said, I am honored to have had the opportunity to be a part of Arundel’s team as the lessons that I learned over the semester were truly valuable, and I will most definitely keep utilizing them as I continue through my public health career.
Sources:
United Health Foundation. America's Health Rankings. Retrieved from https://www.americashealthrankings.org/
Arundel Metrics. Retrieved from https://arundelmetrics.com/
UnitedHealth Group. (2019, December 5). America's Health Rankings 2019 Annual Report Marks 30 Years of Public Health Progress and Challenges
Sofia Pozsonyiova
Sofia Pozsonyiova
Welcome! A little about me...My name is Sofia Pozsonyiova, and I am an applied mathematics and statistics major with a concentration in Community and Global Health at Macalester College. I am originally from Slovakia, but grew up in South Florida. After graduation, I will be moving to North Carolina to start my M.S. in Statistics with a concentration in Biostatistics. I am really looking forward to further evolving my knowledge and passion for health and statistics!
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