OMH Announces Data Resource for Study of Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health

OMH Announces Data Resource for Study of Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health


Compendium of publicly available datasets and other data-related resources is one-stop shop
with 132 data sets from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of a new resource to aid researchers, public health practitioners and policymakers with data on health and health care disparities and social determinants of health. The Compendium of Publicly Available Datasets and Other Data-Related Resources (Compendium) is a free resource that compiles in one place descriptions of and links to 132 public datasets and resources that include information about health conditions and other factors that impact the health of minority populations.

The Compendium provides a one-stop shop for researchers, public policymakers and staff, the general public and all who are interested in the intersection of health, health care, health disparities and social determinants of health – the conditions that impact the environment in which individuals live, learn, work and play.

The Compendium was created by the Federal Interagency Health Equity Team of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA) to advance research, public policy and the public’s knowledge of issues related to health equity. The compendium fills a gap that researchers and practitioners frequently face in locating federal datasets in one place, with information that is vital to conduct research on various topics. It is a valuable, time-saving resource that reduces the significant amount of time and work of identifying and sorting through datasets for pertinent variables of study.

The datasets provided in the Compendium can serve a variety of purposes. Researchers who are interested in studying the specific health services that Americans frequently use and the cost of and payment methods for those health services may access the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data source available from AHRQ found in the Compendium. Organizations interested in program and policy development for children and families served by Head Start and Early Head Start programs may access the Head Start Program Information Report from ACF.

The Compendium of Publicly Available Datasets and Other Data-Related Resources is available on the NPA website.