Affiliations: [a] Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Tel.: +1 301 427 1466; Fax: +1 301 427 1276; E-mail:
scohen@ahrq.gov
| [b] Division of Statistical Research and Methods, Center
for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author
Abstract: In health care surveys similar to the MEPS, the use of additional administrative
data and medical records for survey participants permits additional
methodological investigations and evaluations to examine the accuracy of
household reported data. When differentials are observed in the response
profiles through these evaluations and comparisons, the design permits well
specified adjustment and estimation strategies to correct for measurement error.
In addition to serving as the primary source for the expenditures in the MEPS,
the design of the Medical Provider Component provides data that could
potentially facilitate adjustments to household reported utilization data that
correct for reporting errors (both under-reporting and over-reporting
(telescoping errors)), under the assumption that the medical provider reports
are the gold standard. In this paper, we examine the level of concordance
between household and medical provider utilization reports. An adjustment
strategy to correct for response error attributable to household utilization
reports is also presented.
Keywords: Health care utilization, response error, MEPS
