State health dept. introduces IQuery interactive community health data portal

[August 09, 2012]  CHICAGO -- In an effort to provide greater access to health statistics and information for health providers, local health departments and the general public statewide, the Illinois Department of Public Health has unveiled IQuery, or Illinois Query, an interactive, community health data portal.

"Our public health partners as well as consumers are always interested in having easy access to health statistics in Illinois -- IQuery provides it in an easy-to-use interface that offers detailed information about community health statewide," said IDPH Director LaMar Hasbrouck. "It's a perfect way to utilize technology to facilitate greater information about community health in Illinois."

Portal users can easily click color-coded categories, including 17 health categories with more than 150 different health indicators (such as childbirth and communicable diseases), geographic area, time period and population demographics to obtain results. IQuery also provides individual data profiles separated by community health, health category and leading causes of death for all 102 Illinois counties. Users have the choice of receiving results in Excel spreadsheet or PDF format for easy placement into papers and reports. Data is available from 2000-2011, depending on the category.

IQuery is a project of the Illinois Health Data Dissemination Initiative, for which IDPH is the lead agency. It is also a product of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Assessment Initiative, a five-year, $1.2 million grant designed to help health departments collect data to better assess the health needs of their communities. IQuery builds on the Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs Data System, or IPLAN, and will eventually incorporate the IPLAN website.

Access IQuery on the home page of the IDPH website at http://www.idph.state.il.us/ or visit the portal directly at http://iquery.illinois.gov/.

[Text from Illinois Department of Public Health file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]