About Us
exploreTNhealth was created in partnership between the Tennessee Hospital Association and its data partner, the Hospital Industry Data Institute, with technical assistance from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program. Combined, the Tennessee ZIP Health Rankings and County Health Rankings offers one of the most unique community health-related datasets in the country. Data is the key to diagnosing and addressing some of our region’s most pressing health issues, and by making this information available to the public, Tennessee Hospital Association is furthering its mission to improve health and the health care system.
Tennessee Hospital Association
THA was established in 1938 as a not-for-profit membership association, to serve as an advocate for hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations and the patients they serve. The Association also provides education and information for its members, and informs the public about hospitals and healthcare issues at the state and national levels.
THA is the premier organization in Tennessee that promotes and represents the interests of all hospitals and health systems. The Association also operates three subsidiary organizations to further support the work of THA and its members.
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
The Tennessee ZIP Health Rankings Project is a collaboration between the Tennessee Hospital Association and researchers at the Hospital Industry Data Institute, the data company of the Missouri Hospital Association. Based on previous research supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the project provides a unique approach to measuring community health at the ZIP code level, using hospital discharge and census 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.
The ZIP code-level data included in the most recent version of the site are based on hospital discharges occurring between calendar years 2020 and 2022 (January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2022), and the 2021 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census.
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