News Release
August 27,1996

Health Statistics Available on Web Site

Want to know how many babies were born in Michigan in 1990? Or how many people got married in 1992? Or how many long-term care facilities there are? If you have a computer and you're on the Internet, that's now easy to do.

Statistical tables, graphs and reports from the Office of the State Registrar and Division of Health Statistics (OSR) are now available on the department's Internet web site, Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) Director James K. Haveman, Jr. announced today.

"The Internet is an important vehicle for making our information available to the public," Haveman said. "Because materials on the Internet can be accessed from anywhere in the state and the world, it provides an excellent opportunity to extend our services and distribute our data and statistics to our customers," he added.

The Office of the State Registrar (OSR) is responsible for the collection, compilation, analysis, and publication of statistics about health and health-related matters. The office maintains data bases on births, deaths, marriages, divorces, cancer diagnoses, hospitals, hospital discharges, abortions, licensed physicians, licensed nurses, magnetic resonance imaging, long-term care facilities, and birth defects.

OSR provides these data through a variety of mechanisms to ensure that they are useful, accessible and timely. "The web offers a technology by which our materials are instantaneously accessible to the public," said State Registrar George Van Amburg. "It is an excellent enhancement to our existing services."

The new OSR web site provides access to the most frequently requested tables, graphs and reports. "We will add new and additional statistical materials and features on a regular basis," Van Amburg said. "The use of the Internet technology enhances our efforts to distribute the most current data to the public in a timely and efficient manner."

The OSR web site can be accessed from the department's home page. The address (URL) is: http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/