Recently, staff from the Office of Health Equity were invited to discuss the Health Opportunity Index as part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA)Webinar Series. The NPA, an initiative led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, promotes cross-sector, multi-level and systems-oriented approaches for tackling health disparities. The webinar, titled In Health Matters, Place Matters discusses the importance of place in promoting population health and eliminating health disparities. Topics covered include the impetus behind the Health Opportunity Index, how it was developed and what it can tell us about health equity in Virginia. Over 135 health policy makers, planners and industry advocates interested in healthy equity issues across the United States tuned in from across the US to learn about this cutting edge resource in Virginia.
The Virginia Health Opportunity Index (HOI) website uses interactive dashboards to make the Virginia HOI accessible and easy to understand. The dashboards offer a variety of perspectives for viewing the Virginia HOI, including multiple geographic levels and profiles. We encourage you to explore the many pathways the dashboards provide to understand the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in your community. This post provides a guide for the buttons, maps and pop-ups in the Local Health District (LHD) dashboards.
The Health Matters, Place Matters Dashboard
The Health Matters, Place Matters dashboard lets you explore how people experience SDOH in LHDs and localities. It examines the proportion of the population living in census tracts at various opportunity levels for both the Virginia HOI and its four profiles. It is important to note that not all individuals in these census tracts experience the SDOH in the same way. For instance, our measure of job participation shows the proportion of those who have jobs in the community, but the experience is different for those with jobs and those without jobs. The neighborhood effects, however, are strong predictors of population health outcomes.
The dashboard consists of three parts: the map in the upper left corner, a bubble chart to its right, and bar charts in the lower part of the dashboard.
Using the Map
The map shows Virginia’s 134 counties and independent cities colored by Local Health District (LHD). Hover the cursor over a locality in the map to reveal the name of the locality and its LHD. Hovering the cursor over the map area also reveals a map toolkit on the left side of the map. You can use this tool to zoom in, zoom out, or to return to the “home” view. Hover over the right arrow at the bottom to reveal advanced zooming and selection tools. You can use these tools to zoom into specific areas of the map or to select groups of localities. To pan the map, click and hold the left mouse button. This allows you to “grab” the map and move it around in the frame. Click on a locality to select its LHD. You can select multiple LHDs by holding the [ctrl] or [cmd] key. Selecting LHDs in the map affects all areas of the dashboard.
The Bubble Chart
The bubble chart to the immediate right of the map shows the proportion of the population in the selected LHD(s) that live in census tracts at each opportunity level (very low, low, average, high and very high). Hover over each bubble to see detailed information on the selected population. The dashboard default has all LHDs selected, so the population in the bubbles represent all of Virginia. Select different LHDs to explore the distribution of the population in census tracts in each opportunity level. The two examples to the right, for instance, show the wide variation between Southwest and Northern Virginia in the Virginia HOI.
The Bar Chart
The bar chart at the bottom of the dashboard displays similar information to the bubble charts. However, this chart shows a single bar for each county within each LHD. Select one or more LHDs in the map to limit the display to your desired LHDs. Hovering over the bars reveals detailed information for each county at each opportunity level. The vertical red line is the 20% marker–where the “very low” opportunity bar would reach if opportunity was spread evenly among localities.
This example shows the population experience of residents in the Greater Richmond Area, including in Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Chickahominy LHDs.
The Selection Buttons
Use the radio buttons in the upper right corner of the dashboard to cycle between the Virginia HOI and its four profiles. You may also choose to view data at the Local Health District or County/Independent City level in the bar chart. This allows quick comparisons among LHDs.
A Closer Look
By scrolling down to the next dashboard you can view the Virginia HOI and its profiles at the census tract level. Click on the radio buttons in the upper left hand corner to scroll through the Virginia HOI and its four profiles. To select individual LHDs or groups of LHDs, use the check box list to the left of the map. Before selecting, deselect the “All” check box to clear the selections. The map will zoom to the selected entities. Alternatively, you may use the map toolkit as described above.
This map shows the Economic Opportunity Profile for Census Tracts in the Danville Local Health District. The Economic Opportunity Profile is selected using the radio buttons in the upper left. Danville LHD is selected using the check box list to the left of the map.
The Virginia Health Opportunity Index (HOI) website uses interactive dashboards to make the HOI accessible, interesting and easy to understand. The dashboards offer a variety of perspectives for viewing the HOI, including multiple geographic levels and profiles. We encourage you to explore the many pathways the dashboards provide to understand the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in your community. This post provides a guide for the many buttons, maps and pop-ups in the Counties dashboards.
The Health Opportunity Landscape Dashboard
The Health Opportunity Landscape dashboard allows you to see where your county stands in relation to other counties in Virginia in the HOI and its four profiles. The dashboard consists of three parts: the map in the upper left corner, rankings in the upper right corner, and visualization scales in the lower part of the dashboard.
Using the Map
Hovering over a county in the map highlights it in the scale visualizations in the bottom portion of the dashboard.
The map shows Virginia’s 134 counties and independent cities colored by Local Health District (LHD). Hover the cursor over a locality in the map
to highlight it in the visualization scales. Hovering the cursor over the map area also reveals a map toolkit on the left side of the map. You can use this tool to zoom in, zoom out, or to return to the “home” view. Hover
over the right arrow at the bottom to reveal advanced zooming and selection tools. You can use these tools to zoom into specific areas of the map or to select groups of localities. To pan the map, click and hold the left mouse button. This will allow you to “grab” the map and move it around in the frame.
The Rankings
Click on a locality to select it and reveal it rank in the HOI and its four profiles in the upper right corner. Selecting a locality affects all sections of the dashboard. Hold the <ctrl> key or use the advanced selection tool to select multiple localities. Clicking on a selected locality clears the selection. Alternatively, use the Local Health District dropdown at the top of the rankings to select all of the localities in a LHD. To clear a selected LHD, return this dropdown to “(All)”. When multiple localities are selected the rankings boxes show the median rank of the selected localities. If an odd number of localities are selected this is the middle locality in the rankings. If an even number of counties are selected this is the halfway point between the two most central localities.
The median rankings for Three Rivers Health District. Since Three Rivers has an even number of localities the rankings are the midpoint between the two center-most localities. For instance, the Economic Profile rank of 99 is the midpoint between Westmoreland County (93) and Mecklenburg County (105).
The Visualization Scales
The charts at the bottom of the map show the distribution of the localities in the HOI and its four profiles. Each locality is represented by an outline of its shape, and is shaded by opportunity level (very high, high, average, low & very low). Hover over a locality in any of the charts to highlight it in each of the other charts and in the map. Hovering over a locality also reveals a “tooltip” which includes additional details on opportunity level and ranking. Click on a locality to select it or <Ctrl>+click to select multiple localities. The map will zoom in on selected localities.
With the Three Rivers Health District selected you can see the median ranking of its localities and the distribution of individual localities along the visualization scale. Hover over an individual locality to see its ranking.
A Closer Look
By scrolling down to the next dashboard you can view the HOI and its profiles at the census tract level. Click on the radio buttons in the upper left hand corner to scroll through the HOI and its four profiles. To select individual localities or groups of localities, use the check box list to the left of the map. Before selecting, deselect the “All” check box to clear the selections. The map will zoom to the selected entities. Alternatively, you may use the map toolkit as described above.
The Economic Opportunity Profile for Census Tracts in Richmond City. The Economic Opportunity Profile is selected using the radio buttons in the upper left. Richmond City is selected using the check box list to the left of the map.
map shows the proportion of the population in the selected LHD(s) that live in census tracts at each opportunity level (very low, low, average, high and very high). Hover over each bubble to see detailed information on the selected population. The dashboard default has all LHDs selected, so 
the population in the bubbles represent all of Virginia. Select different LHDs to explore the distribution of the population in census tracts in each opportunity level. The two examples to the right, for instance, show the wide variation between Southwest and Northern Virginia in the Virginia HOI.
