The Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal serves as a centralized source for public health data, resulting in:
- Improved public health decision-making: Take advantage of high-quality, accessible data and decision support tools.
- Healthier Iowans in healthier communities: Use data to perform thorough community health needs assessments and to create and implement impactful health improvement plans.
- Increased opportunities for funding: Use data to support grant applications and ensure secured funds are used on programs that provide the most value to Iowans.
- Better use of time and resources: Spend less time searching for data and more time using the data for valuable activities.
The Tracking portal documents these results through Success Stories.
In an effort to make the portal data usable and understandable, the portal includes background information and descriptive detail for each of the topic areas. Much of the data on the portal are presented as Nationally Consistent Data Measures (NCDMs). Using NCDMs to report data make it possible to compare rates between counties, and other states in the CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.
- Data: Much of the data on the network are presented as Nationally Consistent Data Measures (NCDMs) defined as part of the CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. Using these consistent forms of measurement and data reporting make it possible to compare data collected from different states. When the data presented does not have a defined NCDM; the Iowa Tracking program defines measures based on National or State program definitions or other public health scientific rationales.
- Metadata: Descriptive metadata are "data about data". Metadata describe the content, quality, and context of a dataset. Metadata records for datasets used to create the NCDMs and for other measures presented on the Tracking portal.
The Iowa Public Health Tracking program is a collaboration between multiple programs within Iowa HHS.
- Environmental Public Health Tracking: The Iowa Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program was initiated from a grant awarded to the Division of Environmental Health, which resulted in the creation of the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program. The initiative is supported by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and has been already carried out in 22 other states.
- Iowa HHS Data Management: The Data Management program provides information on other ways to access Iowa HHS data, including Data Sharing Agreements, Research Agreements, and a listing of Iowa HHS reports and publications.