About Us
exploreMOhealth is a community health needs assessment platform created to provide ZIP code level rankings across major health behaviors and health outcomes in an effort to illuminate high-risk communities at the subcounty level. Developed by researchers at the Hospital Industry Data Institute and Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri ZIP Health Rankings combine with County Health Rankings to create one of the most unique health-related datasets in the country. The site was launched in 2018 with support from the Missouri Hospital Association to help hospitals and community health stakeholders optimize the effectiveness of community health improvement interventions. Data is the key to diagnosing and addressing the region’s most pressing health issues, and by making this information publicly available, HIDI and MHA are furthering their missions to improve health and the health care system.
HIDI
As the trusted data resource for nearly 2,400 hospitals and health systems nationwide, HIDI provides data and information solutions to hospitals, state hospital associations, state data organizations and research partners.
MHA Health Institute
Partial funding for the site is provided by MHA’s Health Institute. MHI supports research and other projects promoting improvements in quality, patient safety and population health. It also coordinates hospital educational programming and initiatives to support and expand the health care workforce.
About the Data
The traditional delivery of health care is moving beyond just treatment within the walls of hospitals and into managing the health of populations in the community. Health care providers are beginning to increase their focus on upstream social determinants of health that often lead to poor health outcomes. This shift is being driven in part by new regulations that require hospitals to work with public health experts, such as local public health agencies, to develop community health needs assessments and improvement plans to maintain their not-for-profit status. These factors are expediting the collaborative delivery of care across the continuum – integrating voices from public health, social service, and community action organizations. It is critical that these collaborative efforts are founded on insightful, firm data that identify areas of need within different populations and across geographic locations.
ZIP Code-level Data
Originally funded as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative, exploreMOhealth provides a unique approach to measuring community health at the ZIP code level, using hospital discharge and census-based data applied to the County Health Rankings model of population health.
The data provided by the project are designed to inform community health needs assessments at a granular geographic level to inform targeted resource allocations for community health improvement initiatives. Project findings have been presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association and published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.
The ZIP code-level data included in the most recent version of the site are based on hospital discharges occurring between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 (October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2023), and the 2022 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census. The previous versions of the ZIP Health Rankings data are also available in the Map Room, or for download below.
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R) program is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. CHR&R provides data, evidence, guidance, and examples in order to build awareness of the multiple factors that influence health and connect community leaders working to improve health and equity. The annual County Health Rankings measure vital health factors, including high school graduation rates, obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, the quality of air and water, income inequality, and teen births in nearly every U.S. county. The annual Rankings provide a revealing snapshot of how health is influenced by where we live, learn, work and play. CHR&R offers many pathways for self-directed and peer learning, web-based content, and virtual interactive forums that are designed to accelerate learning and action in communities to help build healthier communities and advance equity. To learn more, visit countyhealthrankings.org.