The Role of Statistics in State Health Policy Decisions: The Massachusetts Experience

Abstract

ra Gj T all government levels, experience has shown that making rational choices among alternative health policy decisions depends heavily on careful interpretation of t A 5 quantitative information provided by health statistics. Even though the tasks of collecting and analyzing health > d statistics may be costly, difficult, and time-consuming, these tasks are precursors to the formulation and implementation of health policy, and of programming consistent with established policy. In the past, minimal registration and reporting were apt to be the only health statistics activities conducted by state health departments. Registration of births and deaths often was relegated to clerical personnel who lacked formal training in public health and who accepted, transcribed, and filed documents after only cursory examination. These routine procedures rendered health statistics "dead" in a literal sense. Now, when all available health statistics are collected, correlated, and analyzed by a health department, they become of fourfold value in problem-solving. They make possible: 1) problem definition; 2) the development of logical programming for problem-solving; 3) planning of procedures and records for administration and analysis of the programs as they progress; and 4) evaluation of program results.