Rhode Island Health Equity Measures
Imagine a Rhode Island where every person has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. This is known as health equity. We all want to live in a place without obstacles to health like poverty and discrimination. And we all want to live in communities where we and our loved ones can access good jobs with fair pay, quality education, and safe environments. Yet in every neighborhood, a range of conditions affect people's health and safety every day.
Up to 80 percent of our health is determined outside the doctor's office and inside our homes, schools, jobs, and communities. (more) Generations-long social, economic, and environmental inequities have resulted in adverse health outcomes. They affect communities differently, and have a greater influence on health outcomes than individual choices or one's ability to access healthcare.
Reducing these inequities can help improve opportunities for every Rhode Islander. To improve surveillance of the socioeconomic and environmental factors that drive health inequities, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) collaborated with partners from community organizations, academia, healthcare, and government from 2014-2016 to develop Rhode Island's first set of statewide health equity measures. To learn more about this collaboration, review this health equity indicators factsheet.
Purpose
To serve as Rhode Island's statewide standard for assessing the State's progress towards health equity.
How data can be used
We encourage Rhode Islanders to collaborate across sectors to address barriers to health and advance health equity. The Rhode Island Health Equity Measures can help identify systems and policies that affect the ability of every Rhode Islander to live a healthy life and achieve their full potential. They are intended to help communities assess the impact of health equity initiatives, such as Rhode Island's Health Equity Zones, by providing baseline data and supporting outcomes evaluation. They also provide a way to measure our shared progress.
Key Information
Through an extensive community engagement process, the Community Health Assessment Group developed a core set of 15 measures in five domains that affect health equity: integrated healthcare, community resiliency, physical environment, socioeconomics, and community trauma. Data come from various sources. When possible, data are reported by geographic location, race/ethnicity, disability status, income level, or other demographic characteristics.
Integrated Healthcare
Social Services
| Measure |
Ratio: Number of individuals receiving to number of individuals eligible for SNAP benefits, based on income |
| Data Source |
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), US Census Bureau |
| Strata |
City/Town |
| Learn More |
more |
Community Resiliency
Social Vulnerability
| Measure |
Index score that reflect the social vulnerability of communities |
| Data Source |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) |
| Strata |
Census tract |
| Learn More |
more |
Physical Environment
Socioeconomics
Housing Cost Burden
| Measure |
Percentage of renters and owners who are housing cost burdened |
| Data Source |
2013-2017 American Community Survey - Selected Housing Characteristics |
| Strata |
City/Town |
| Learn More |
more |
Community Trauma
Criminal Justice
| Measure |
Number of non-violent offenders under RI probation and parole (per 1,000 resident age 18+) |
| Data Source |
Rhode Island Department of Corrections, US Census Bureau |
| Strata |
City/Town |
| Learn More |
more |
Rhode Island Department of Health
Health Equity Measures Factsheet