HPR supports DHHS, communities, the NH Legislature and health care providers to understand the health care needs of NH residents and the dynamics of NH's health care system.  HPR expertise is used to develop policy and program options for Medicaid and to bring an understanding of NH's health care needs to the assessment of Medicaid's impact.  HPR also researches health care options under consideration  elsewhere, examines their potential for replication in NH, and estimates the impacts that changes in the health care system might have in both cost and population health status.  HPR works with the Charitable Trusts Division of the Office of the Attorney General to implement NH's Community Benefits statute.

Follow-up financial analyses on Community Health Centers and hospitals are underway as well as a financial analysis of NH's health plans.  Analysis of the second statewide survey on health insurance is in process.

Yes.  Public engagement is crucial to the work that is done.  With the guidance, support and on-going participation of NH Executive Councilors, seven District Health Councils were created and convene regularly.  There is one District Council in each Executive Councilor region except for the northern NH area that has three District Councils, one for the Connecticut River area, one for the Lakes Region-White Mountain area, and one for the North Country area.

The first major product of the Health Planning and Research unit was The New Hampshire Health Care System: Guidelines for Change, issued in 1998.  This document serves as the basis for future studies and analyses.  HPR has also:

• Released financial analyses of NH's Community Health Centers and community hospitals;
• Conducted two statewide surveys on health insurance and health care access;
• Developed a baseline for understanding child health needs in partnership with the Foundation for Healthy Communities; and
• Developed the Regional Health Profiles as an aid to planners, providers and researchers.

Every effort is made to make materials available electronically in our website Library.  Please check our Library to view materials currently available.  Printed copies are available on a limited basis.  Please contact us by e-mail to discuss your needs.

HPR generally depends on data produced by other organizations.  Additionally, HPR uses data produced or provided by other NH state government agencies, federal agencies, or from national organizations.  HPR is the source of the Regional Health Profiles and of population survey data for health insurance and health care access.  Efforts are underway to develop a public access data file for this survey information.

The Regional Health Profiles are a compendium of data and related narrative on health care access, health status and risks to future health for NH populations.  Over 50 variables (indicators) are examined and analyses provided at a "healthcare service area" level, rather than by town or county.  There are 24 "healthcare service areas" that represent groupings of communities with an affinity for each other and with populations or health events/risks in sufficient size to permit statistical analysis. Because of confidentiality restrictions, community level data is available for Manchester and Nashua only.

Because of the size (approximately 400 pages), the Regional Health Profiles are only available electronically in our Library.  However, they are organized so a visitor may choose one or more specific sections rather than the whole document.

 Based on the 1999 NH Health Insurance Coverage and Access Survey, approximately 96,000 residents under the age of 65 were without health insurance. This means that approximately 9% of NH's residents in 1999 had no health insurance.  Briefly:

• 75% of the uninsured were adults (71,000) with those between age 30 and 44 accounting for the largest share (32%), followed by adults ages 18 to 29 (25%).
• An estimated 25,000 children were uninsured, many of who might be eligible for existing healthcare coverage programs.
• The majority of the uninsured work.  Almost 73% of all uninsured individuals have at least one family member who worked full-time. Additionally, approximately 12% of the uninsured live in families with at least one individual who worked part-time.
• Approximately 58% of the working uninsured indicated they worked in firms that did not offer insurance coverage. An additional 18% reported their employers offered coverage but they were ineligible for that coverage as a result of their length of employment, the part-time nature of the work, or as a result of medical issues which restricted their access to employer-based uninsurance.

The northern part of NH (north of the Concord area) had significantly higher rates of uninsured residents than the southern areas of NH.  Approximately 14% of the residents under age 65 in the North Country (north of Haverhill/Woodsville, Littleton and Berlin) were uninsured.  Approximately 13% of the residents in the Lakes Region and Mt Washington Valley (the Laconia, Plymouth, North Conway and Wolfeboro areas) did not have health insurance.  While the uninsured rate is higher in the northern part of NH, the more urban areas, including those around Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Portsmouth, accounted for approximately 70% of the total number of uninsured adults.