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I appreciate the many comments we have received.
Our goal is to make Vitalnet fast, flexible, powerful,
reliable, easy to use, and easy to understand.
Our goal is to benefit users and purchasers.
We regularly watch and listen to users,
and learn from their experiences and comments.
We care about your health data.
If you have positive comments to include on this page,
or want to contact us for any reason, please use our
feedback form.
Daniel Goldman, MD, MPH
President, EHDP
"Epigram is the most user-friendly software I have ever encountered.
To get fast, clear, helpful results, the user needs no special technical
skills, just the most basic level of computer literacy. I was able
to use it successfully with no instructions or manual and obtain a
range of statistics that I needed, broken down in a variety of useful
ways".
Ruth Andersen, PhD
Health Program Specialist
"Epigram allowed me to compare mortality data for my county with that
of other urban counties in my state within minutes. Before Epigram,
data like that would take several weeks to get.
Epigram empowered me to understand key epidemiological concepts like
age-adjustment. Besides having the data I need within minutes of
formulating my question, I was able to see how statistical techniques
such as age-adjustment can dramatically change the response.
Epigram is so user friendly even a computer neophyte
can use it."
Priscilla Boston
Health Planner
"I find Epigram to be an extremely useful tool that I've come to depend on!"
Cheryl Bowcock
Data Analyst
"Epigram is easy to use and provides quick and accurate answers
about population and rates."
Jean Brender, RN, PhD
Epidemiologist
"Epigram is one of the most powerful data analysis tools I have ever encountered.
It is a model for how to organize and retrieve variegated and multi-faceted data.
To be totally successful, a demographic data analysis program must contain:
1) data that is accurate and authorative,
2) an inquiry procedure that is flexible enough to allow researchers to "tailor-make" their outcomes,
and 3) a user interface that is intuitive and doesn't require the researcher to wade through
a mass of documentation in order to master the program.
Epigram embodies all of these desiderata."
John Burlinson
Library Director
"I have found Epigram to be a very useful tool for retrieving and
analysis of death data.
It gives quick and accurate results.
I would recommend this software system to anyone with a similar
need to retrieve and analyze death data."
Leland Carmichael
Statistician
"Epigram is a powerful tool for very efficiently analyzing mortality data.
I have used it in the classroom for student assignments.
The students were very impressed, and have gone on to use it for
other research and work projects.
In fact, one student is currently writing up his class assignment
into a manuscript for submission for publication.
Epigram is a gift, especially for those of us who remember
analyzing mortality data the old labor intensive way."
Sharon Cooper, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
"I have used Epigram to download information on deaths (numbers and rates)
by county, race, age and causes of death for several years.
My experience with Epigram is primarily as a user of information.
I found Epigram to be flexible, user-friendly, and self-explanatory.
It is flexible in providing breakdowns by county, age and race for
several years.
It allows group and range selections for these variables.
It requires minimal training time (5-10 minutes) for a new user.
The program runs fast and the response time to a query is acceptable.
Since the response time is minimal, it is easy to recreate or rerun
queries and therefore does not require saving files.
This saves a lot of space on the network.
The data is formatted in user-friendly and presentable table form.
I found it easy to import the data in ASCII, spreadsheet or database format.
This allows for trend or statistical analysis."
Shakuntala Desai, MS
Statistician
"I used Epigram to analyze pediatric and injury death data in Texas
in conjunction with other data I had. The population breakdowns by
county and public health region were extremely helpful. I found
Epigram fairly easy to use, even for a beginner. A great
tool for students."
Tho Bella Dinh-Zarr, MPH
Researcher
"Epigram is a fast and easy way to retrieve information about Texas
population. It has been most helpful when I've needed specific information
on ethnicity, age, or sex."
Veronda Durden, MS
Administrator
"Epigram has been a valuable tool for providing data needed
to demonstrate to the community the tragic role that injuries
play in reducing productive years of life. It also provides
an invaluable tool for developing strategies for injury reduction
targeted at groups at risk for various injury types, based on
age, ethnicity and sex. Epigram's ease of use
and ready availability on the Internet have saved us many hours
of time."
Nelson England
Transportation Analyst
"What a tremendous package you've developed! I'm really impressed."
Juli Fellows, PhD
Organizational Consultant
"As a public health nurse and as an epidemiologist, I consider
Epigram to be an essential tool for needs assessments, strategy and
policy development, targeting intervention strategies, and
quality assurance activities. Epigram is a very powerful tool for
analyzing our vital statistics mortality data, yet it is unbelievably
user-friendly, fast, and dependable. On many occassions, I've
taught other staff members to use it in a matter of minutes.
There's nothing tricky about it."
Penny Finuf, MSN, RN, CS
Nurse Consultant
"As an RN and professional software developer for 20 years,
I am very much impressed by these products, both in the
comprehensive vision of the overall design, and in the careful
attention to the many details that comprise a high-quality program
that is both powerful and easy to use."
Thomas Flood, RN; President
TCF Consulting
"Able to get mortality rates and population quickly and easily.
No difficult calculations.
Epigram does it for you in a matter of minutes.
Many different variables to choose from.
Geographic variables, age ranges, race / ethnicity."
Carol Friedman, DO
Epidemiologist
"Epigram is accessible and easy to use.
I do appreciate your efforts in offering technical support to users
and maintaining Epigram up to date."
Angela Garzon, MS
PhD Candidate
"My staff handles over 6,000 information requests from the public and
health care professionals per year.
I'm sure we use Epigram many times a month and find it invaluable."
Kate Hendricks, MD, MPH&TM
Epidemiologist, Administrator
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"Epigram is one of the most powerful data analysis tools I have ever encountered.
"I've been using Epigram to extract data for several graphs,
and I'm very pleased with the ease of use and flexibility of output.
It really works like a charm.
I appreciate being able to use this program.
It's a real time-and-headache saver."
Amy Holmes
Data Analyst
"Congratulations on such a nice program.
It is a great time-saver.
Puts important demographic and mortality figures at your fingertips."
Michael Kelley, MD
Epidemiologist, Administrator
"The ability to extract population data and import it into other software
is the greatest thing since sliced bread. We use it all the time and
rely on it."
Sharon King, MA
Epidemiologist
"Epigram is a very useful tool to use to retrieve data.
The user-friendly screen allows one to easily 'program a run'
by entering just a few parameters.
There is no special knowledge required;
the user does not have to be a programmer or computer expert to
use this program.
Epigram can yield raw numbers and rates for specific geographic areas,
ages, ethnic categories, and sex, usually within seconds.
It is particularly useful in that data for multiple years can be
obtained from one 'run'.
There are several built-in categories of ICD-9 codes,
enabling the user to obtain data for injury deaths or
firearm related deaths, for example,
without having to search for all the various ICD-9 codes that apply.
I would be reluctant to lose Epigram, and encourage anyone with similar
needs to explore this valuable tool."
Brian King
Statistician
"The web version of Vitalnet is an extraordinary resource for health researchers, policy makers,
and other data users. The integration of its basic and advanced analysis features with a fast and
intuitive interface make it one of the best tools in its class. "
Eric Lang, PhD
Research Scientist
"I have found Epigram to be both useful and user-friendly - a welcome combination.
Epigram is a simple yet powerful tool to summarize vital statistics information.
I have found that Epigram is not 'use it or lose it' software; Using it is easy even
after a break of several months."
Peter Langlois, PhD
Epidemiologist
"Epigram puts valuable data right at my fingertips."
Shellie Kolavek, DMD, MPH
Epidemiologist
I find the Texas VitalWeb Birth Data very useful
for my advocacy purposes.
Gretchen Lash
Child Advocate
I became a rockstar in my class -- I was the only one that had actually
found accurate data -- believe or not!
Bertil Marje
Administrator
"As an administrator, I don't directly use Epigram.
However, I value this program that makes analysis of population
and mortality data easier and more efficient for data analysts and
epidemiologists on my staff."
Dora McDonald, MPA
Administrator
"I have seen Epigram develop from a very good tool into an outstanding
tool for accessing mortality and population data.
As a programmer, I can attest to the careful, thorough manner in which
the software was developed."
John Osborn
Systems Analyst
"Epigram provides me an excellent, handy, reliable source of data for my
Medical Geography students. Epigram adds LIFE to my course because
students can examine the data underlying any particular cause of
mortality with reliable data. It provides an unlimited series of
topics for student research papers. No more literature review papers.
Students examine real, live disease and mortality problems, thanks
to Epigram.
As a researcher, I have found Epigram to be an invaluable source of
data. I value the reliability and accuracy that Epigram provides, and
the flexibility to combine it with other data sources such as Toxic Release
Inventory Data.
Thanks a million for Epigram.
It has made teaching medical geography fun.
My students love it."
Joseph Oppong, PhD
University Faculty
"I would give Epigram rave reviews."
Patti Patterson, MD, MPH
Epidemiologist, Administrator
"Epigram is an excellent software to access and analyze mortality data.
I often respond to persons who need mortality data on cancer for a
specific time period and a specific geographical area of the state.
The Epigram software allows me to easily respond to requests,
sometimes even while I am on the telephone with them, so that I can give
them what they wanted even before they hang up! In fact, since Epigram
is available on the Internet, I usually tell the persons I am working with,
how they can get an account and access this dataset directly.
They are very appreciative of this, and I know that several of them
have made great use of Epigram."
David Risser, PhD, MPH
Epidemiologist
"I don't know how I could have performed my job as injury epidemiologist
without Epigram.
Half of my duties had me dealing with data requests from
the general public, concerned citizens, and media.
The other half of my duties involved looking for injury "clusters"
across Texas. Epigram is very fast, powerful and flexible."
Michael Skrabanek
Epidemiologist
"I want to thank you for the Epigram program."
Carl Slater, MD
School of Public Health Faculty
"Having used state department of health data tapes to retrieve data
and other sources for population data I am grateful to find these
data in one location with a large variety of reliable rates and adjustments
for analyzing the data.
Epigram is a wonderful tool and an enormous time saver.
I have used CDC Wonder and find Epigram much more attuned to my needs."
Bill Spears, PhD
School of Public Health Data Expert
"We appreciate the time and effort taken to develop this program.
It has made many people's jobs easier."
Christina Stovall, MSPH
Epidemiologist
"I have had no problems accessing Epigram, understanding the menus,
and creating the analyses I wanted."
Jeffrey Taylor, MPH
Epidemiologist
"It is apparent a lot of work has been done to make the site
accessible to the visually impaired. Rarely have I seen a site
that presented some rather difficult material in such a well
structured manner."
Robert Wiley
Adapative Technology Supervisor
"I went through the tutorial on Epigram and
found it quite easy to understand."
Jessie Yoas, RN
Public Health Nurse
"Epigram is a powerful tool! It makes my work easier.
I can respond to legislature inquiries and the general public's
inquiries on deaths very fast.
It is at my fingertips.
We should have had this 20 years ago!"
David Zane
Epidemiologist, Administrator
Note: Epigram is the Vitalnet mortality data system.
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