Georgia Deparment of Public Health
Online Analytical Statistical Information System
OASIS Overview & FAQ
OASIS is a suite of interactive tools used to access and visualize the Georgia Department of Public Health’s standardized health data repository. The tools include:
- Web Query Tool: Tabular data.
- Mapping Tool: Mapped data (some by Census Tract).
- Animated Charting Tool: Pyramid-based bar charts.
- Trending Tool: Line charts.
- Community Health Needs Assessment Dashboard: A combination of the above 4 tools plus ranking of leading causes.
- Leading Causes of Premature Death – YPLL Pyramid Dashboard: Ranked causes of premature mortality showing pyramid-based charts.
- Leading Causes of Premature Death – Lifespan Histomap: A single graphic showing relative proportions of premature mortality by age group.
- Map-Your-Own-Data Mapping Tool: Make your own choropleth maps with your own data by almost any geographic unit.
OASIS and the Repository are designed, built and maintained by the Office of Health Indicators for Planning (OHIP), Epidemiology Division, Georgia Department of Public Health. The first iteration of OASIS was created in 2001.
OASIS is currently populated with Vital Statistics (births, deaths, fetal deaths, induced terminations, pregnancies), Hospital Discharge, Emergency Room Visit, STD, and Census Population data. If more detailed information from these sources is needed, please contact us.
Many subjects of interest to public health can be found in OASIS, for example:
- Maternal/Child Health: Low birthweight, infant mortality, birth defects, breastfeeding.
- Chronic Disease: Heart disease, cancer, emphysema, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, hypertension.
- Acute or Infectious Disease: Asthma, flu, Covid-19, HIV, STD’s.
- “External” Causes: Drug overdose, motor vehicle crash, homicide, suicide, falls.
- Population: Population trends by age, race, ethnicity, sex, county.
- Note on social determinants of health (SDOH): Many indicators can be queried by socioeconomic indicators such as the SES component of the Social Vulnerability Index, education level, and payor type.
Generally speaking: Counts, Crude Rates, Age-adjusted Rates, Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL), Percentages/Proportions, and metrics such as Standardized Mortality Ratios that include built-in tests of significance.
Yes. Most data are selectable by Age, Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Year, Place (e.g. County, District, State, County Commission District, Census Tract). Other attributes may be available depending on data source (e.g. Payor, Education, Socioeconomic status). All data pertain to place of residence (vs where something occurred).
OASIS plays an integral role in program planning, including determining target population areas, formulating financial plans, monitoring program effectiveness, program evaluation and reporting program outcomes.
Use OASIS tools to:
- Develop profiles and report cards for counties or districts
- Assess community health needs, prioritize health problems, and evaluate programs
- Assemble data for grant writing, special projects or state legislative reporting
- Identify high risk populations, and guide allocation of resources
- Create a basis for health communications or health advocacy
- Track trends over time to inform long-term health strategies and interventions
- Facilitate collaboration across agencies and stakeholders by providing accessible, standardized data
- Assess and account for spatial variation of neighborhood-level health outcomes.
Benefits:
- OASIS includes value-added variables (e.g. low birthweight, cause-of-death categories, tract, race, age groups, etc) that are pre-calculated and standardized across data sources so apples-to-apples comparisons can be made.
- Present data more efficiently.
- Saves substantial staff time.
- Decreases potential for errors in calculations.
- Has the flexibility to retrieve and display information in different formats.
- Provides quick access to data definitions and formulas.
If there are information needs above and beyond what OASIS can provide, please contact us.
Data in OASIS are updated yearly once data suppliers have finalized/closed-out their data for statistical purposes. Typical update schedule:
- Birth: Early June
- Population: Late June
- Death: Late August
- Hospital Discharge/ER Visit: Early September
- Fetal Death: Late July
- ITOP: Late August
- STD: November.
Yes! Just email us at ohip@dph.ga.gov to ask.
- Geocoding: OASIS benefits from geocoded data; data sent to NCHS does not. Geocoding changes counts by county and state (~4% of records change county after geocoding).
- Close-out dates: The date Georgia closes out a datafile for statistical purposes can differ from the date NCHS stops accepting additional records.
- Quality checks: OASIS benefits from an additional layer of quality checks.
- Imputation of missing values: While both OHIP and NCHS impute missing values in select cases (e.g. mother’s race), OHIP’s are based on local probabilities vs less precise methods.
- Note: OASIS serves as the official vital statistics of Georgia.
Online Analytical Statistical Information System (OASIS), <name of tool used>, Georgia Department of Public Health, Office of Health Indicators for Planning (OHIP). <Date data accessed> https://oasis.state.ga.us/
