National healthcare estimates from MEPS for the 2004 NHDR were derived primarily from the 2001 MEPS HC survey, including the Self-Administered Questionnaire (SAQ), the Child Health and Preventive Care section, and another self-administered survey about diabetes care.
The 2001 SAQ was a supplement to the MEPS HC and was completed in late 2001 and early 2002. It included: Health care quality measures taken from the health plan version of CAHPS®, an AHRQ-sponsored family of survey instruments designed to measure quality of care from the consumer's perspective; general health questions; attitudes about health questions; and health status questions as measured by the SF-12 and the EuroQol 5D.
The Child Health and Preventive Care section was part of the regular MEPS HC interview that took place during the later half of 2001. It included: health care quality measures taken from the health plan version of CAHPS®; the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener questions; children's general health status as measured by several questions from the General Health Subscale of the Child Health Questionnaire; Columbia Impairment Scale questions about possible child behavioral problems; and child preventive care questions. The CAHPS® questions and the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener questions had been in a Parent-Administered Questionnaire in 2000. The CAHPS® questions and the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener may produce slightly different estimates in 2001 than in 2000 due to the change in mode from a self-administered parent questionnaire in 2000 to an interviewer administered questionnaire in 2001.
A third supplement to the MEPS HC was a self-administered questionnaire given out to persons identified with diabetes concerning the care they received in the treatment of their diabetes.