County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action toward Community Health (MATCH)

Nathan R. Jones, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Bridget Booske, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Patrick Remington, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Population health rankings can be useful for setting public health agendas and establishing responsibility for improving the health infrastructure and public welfare of communities. The County Health Rankings project provides rankings for all 3,016 American counties according to specific health outcomes and a range of factors that determine health. Poorly ranked counties were characterized by higher rates of premature death, often from preventable conditions; higher smoking rates; higher obesity rates; higher unemployment and poverty rates; and food environments with more liquor stores and fast-food outlets, but few places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. We will report results from the initial County Health Rankings completed in 2010, including within-state analyses and case studies of the initial dissemination strategies. Efforts to translate research into practice and engage community leaders in population health improvement were met with a range of responses.