Health and Quality of Life Outcomes BioMed Central Research Open Access Using multiple survey vendors to collect health outcomes information: How accurate are the data? Samuel C Haffer* Address: Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group, . Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, MS: S3-02-01, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244, USA and Policy Sciences Graduate Program, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland USA Email: Samuel C Haffer* - shaffer@ * Corresponding author Published: 16 April 2003 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003, 1:6 This article is available from: Received: 5 February 2003 Accepted: 16 April 2003 © 2003 Haffer; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an. | BioMed Central Health and Quality of Life Outcomes Research Using multiple survey vendors to collect health outcomes information How accurate are the data Samuel C Haffer Open Access Address Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group . Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services MS S3-02-01 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore Maryland 21244 USA and Policy Sciences Graduate Program University of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore Maryland USA Email Samuel C Haffer - shaffer@ Corresponding author Published 16 April 2003 Received 5 February 2003 Accepted 16 April 2003 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003 1 6 This article is available from http content 1 1 6 2003 Haffer licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose provided this notice is preserved along with the article s original URL. Abstract Background To measure and assess health outcomes and quality of life at the national level large-scale surveys using multiple vendors to gather health information is becoming the norm. This study evaluates the ability of multiple survey vendors to gather and report data collected as part of the 1998 Medicare Health Outcomes Survey HOS . Method Four hundred randomly sampled completed mailed surveys were chosen from each of six certified vendors N 2397 participating in the 1998 HOS. The accuracy of the data gathered from the vendors was measured by creating a gold standard record for each survey and comparing it to the final record submitted by the vendor. Results Overall rates of agreement were calculated and ranged from to across the vendors. Conclusion Researchers may be confident that using multiple vendors to gather health outcomes information will yield accurate data. Introduction With the recognition of patient-based assessments of satisfaction and outcomes as important measures of heath care quality and organizational .
