The Early Release Program of the U.S. National Health Interview Survey

• Activity Number: 536
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 10, 2006 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Health Policy Statistics
• Author(s): Jeannine Schiller*+ and Jane Gentleman and Eve Powell-Griner
• Companies: National Center for Health Statistics and National Center for Health Statistics and National Center for Health Statistics
• Keywords: health surveys ; sentinel surveillance ; statistical computing ; data reporting ; health status indicators ; health insurance

Abstract

The National Center for Health Statistic's (NCHS) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has been releasing quarterly estimates for 15 key health indicators through its Early Release (ER) Program since data year 2000. Estimates are released on the NCHS Web site 6 months after data collection. For each indicator, a graph of the trend since 1997 is presented, followed by figures and tables showing age-specific, sex-specific, and race/ethnicity-specific estimates for the new data quarter. Key findings are highlighted. A separate in-depth report on health insurance is also released as part of the ER Program. This presentation will describe how the excellent timeliness of the ER Program has been achieved using expedited data editing, streamlined data analysis, automated report updating, and internet dissemination. Examples from the most recent ER will be used to demonstrate the ER process.