Conduent HCI platforms include a number of national indicators at various geographic levels from the American Community Survey. The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides vital information on a yearly basis about the nation and its people. It is the premier source for detailed population and housing information, and therefore, provides very robust and relevant data related to health and factors that affect health.
The American Community Survey also provides several health insurance indicators which are available on Conduent HCI platforms. Starting with the 2017 data release (in September 2018), the American Community Survey began providing health insurance data in age categories that are reflective of the current health insurance climate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With the implementation of the ACA, the definition of a qualifying child changed to those under age 19 at the close of the calendar year.
The American Community Survey data is split up into three sources: 5-year estimates, 1-year estimates, and supplemental estimates. HCI maintains indicators from all three of those sources. Below you can find explanations on the differences between the three types of estimates and releases, which indicators come from which ones, and why various indicators come from them. The overall ACS data release schedule can be found on the source site here.
ACS 5-Year Estimates:
- Data estimates come from 60 months of collected data.
- Data are available for all areas: state, county, census place (city), zip code (ZCTA), and census tract
- Provides the largest sample size of the ACS estimates, and, therefore, the most reliable data of the three.
- Good for analyzing very small populations, examining smaller geographies, and providing precision
- ACS releases new data annually, usually around the first or second week of December, with data for the five previous years time period (i.e. data released in December 2023 is for the 2017-2022 time period)
- Conduent HCI works to get new data live on client sites within 2-3 months of the data release by the source.
- Conduent HCI-maintained indicators generally default to 5-year estimates to provide data for as many geographies as possible and to provide the most data possible at sub-county levels.
ACS 1-Year Estimates:
- Data estimates come from 12 months of collected data.
- Data are available for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 and over. This includes the state and county level (for larger counties) and even some census places/cities (for large census places/cities).
- Provides the smallest sample size of all ACS estimates; however, it is the most current data that ACS releases.
- Good for providing most up-to-date data and for analyzing larger population geographies, particularly counties
- ACS releases new data annually, usually around the middle of September, with data from the prior year (i.e., data released in September 2023 is for the 2022 time period).
- Conduent HCI works to get new data live on client sites within 2-3 months of the data release by the source.
- Conduent HCI-maintained indicators that use the 1-year estimates are those that we believe benefit the most from having as up-to-date data as possible, and those where seeing trends and changes over single year time periods are most crucial for analysis. It includes population measurements and figures, such as Total Population, which are best studied by annual changes.
- Disability and difficulty indicators are maintained by Conduent HCI using the 1-year estimates due to the fact that 5-year estimates did not begin being released by ACS until the 2012 data release. Conduent HCI began collecting and displaying the 1-year data in 2008. Please contact your account manager if you are interested in having disability and difficulty data displayed on your site in 5-year time periods instead, for all geographies available.
ACS 1-Year Supplemental Estimates:
- Have the same factors and attributes as ACS 1-year estimates, but for geographies with populations of 20,000 or more
- Generally released about one month after the regular ACS 1-year estimates (around mid-October of every year); data updated on Conduent HCI client sites 2-3 months after that
- Conduent HCI-maintained indicators that use ACS 1-year supplemental estimates are: Adults 65+ with a Disability, Adults with Disability, Children with a Disability, and Persons with a Disability
- HCI provides data for these indicators from the supplemental estimates to ensure that as many geographies as possible are able to have disability data displayed for them, as a supplement to the disability indicators collected from regular 1-year estimates.
- Note: These estimates are not comparable to regular ACS 1-year estimates.
For more information on annual data updates as they are completed, please see the Indicator Update History section of the Help Center for any articles about ACS sources.