Assignment: Utilizing Health Data

All states have a website for their health department. These sites contain a wealth of information and statistics related to the population of their state. You are to visit three state websites and compare and contrast two registries that are of interest to you for the states. You are to select states from different areas of the country. For example, let’s say you have a family member with heart disease. You might go to the Department of Health site for Missouri, Utah, and Rhode Island and compare/contrast the information in their heart disease registry. You would use the same states for reviewing their cancer registry. Include in your paper the reasons for selecting your states and the registries. The states have many registries for many different diseases: autism, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, trauma, etc. You may select any topic, but make sure the states you select all have a registry for the diseases you select. Evaluate the registries on their ease of use, how they protect the privacy of the information, how they obtain the information, how they de-identify the information, etc. Compare/contrast the states’ websites in terms of visual appeal, layout, and whether it is user-friendly. Give your recommendations on how you would improve their policies and/or their website. The paper should be approximately 4-6 pages.