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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of adults whose health care provider checked their understanding — HC/HIT‑01 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  Medical Expenditure Panel (MEPS), AHRQ

Baseline: 26.6 percent of adults aged 18 years and over reported that a health care provider asked them to describe how they will follow instructions in 2017

Target: 32.2 percent

Numerator
Number of adults aged 18 years and over whose health care provider asked how instructions will be followed.
Denominator
Number of adults aged 18 years and over who visited the doctor in the last 12 months and were given instructions about what to do about a specific illness or health condition.
Target-setting method
Projection
Target-setting method details
Linear trend fitted using weighted least squares and a projection at the 67 percent prediction interval.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were evaluated for this objective. Using historical data points, a trend line was fitted using weighted least squares and the trend was projected into the next decade. This method was used because three or more comparable data points were available, the projected value was within the range of possible values. A projection at the 67 percent prediction interval was selected because although there was a steady increase from 2011 to 2017, it is uncertain that this rate of increase will be maintained for the next decade.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)
Numerator:
In the last 12 months, how often did doctors or other health providers ask you to describe how you were going to follow these instructions?
  1. Never
  2. Sometimes
  3. Usually
  4. Always
Numerator and Denominator:
In the last 12 months, not counting the times you went to an emergency room, how many times did you go to a doctor's office or clinic to get health care for yourself?

In the last 12 months, did a doctor or other health provider give you instructions about what to do about a specific illness or health condition?

  1. Yes
  2. No

Only respondents with at least 1 visit who were given instructions are included in the denominator.

Methodology notes

The Household Component (HC) of MEPS is a subsample of households drawn from households that participated in the prior year's National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Data for this measure are collected from the MEPS Self-Administered Questionnaire (SAQ), which is requested from adult household members.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

1. Because Healthy People 2030 objectives have a desired direction (e.g., increase or decrease), the confidence level of a one-sided prediction interval can be used as an indication of how likely a target will be to achieve based on the historical data and fitted trend.