Situation
The Connecticut Health Care Survey had two primary goals: 1) assess patient experience and need gaps in the Connecticut health care system; and 2) provide state and local-level data to better inform policy development and program intervention. The study was sponsored by six health care foundations – Aetna Foundation, Children’s Fund of Connecticut, Connecticut Health Foundation, Foundation for Community Health, The Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, and Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, Inc.
Solution
The Office of Survey Research worked closely with the project funders and other key stakeholders to design the survey and field protocols. Our key responsibilities included:
- Developing the survey instrument based on several nationally validated surveys used to measure health status, health care access and coordination, insurance coverage, and patient attitudes toward the health care delivery system.
- Pretesting the instrument, including in-person cognitive interviews of the preliminary survey and a telephone pilot of the final draft survey instrument.
- Designing a dual-frame (landline and cell phone), probability-based stratified random sample of Connecticut residents living in households.
- Completing a total of 5,447 telephone surveys, (4,608 regarding adults and 839 regarding children), in English and Spanish between June 2012 and February 2013.
- Weighting the survey responses to account for unequal probabilities of selection during sampling and survey non-response.
- Preparing a wide array of reports and other deliverables intended to inform state agencies striving to improve the health of Connecticut residents.
Results
The Connecticut Health Care Survey provides a rich source of self-reported data on the health and health care of Connecticut residents, including health insurance coverage, access and sources of care, continuity of care, health status, and patient-provider experience. For instance, 91% of adults reported having health insurance; 86% reported having a usual place to go for medical care; and 45% reported ever being told by a health professional that they have diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart disease and/or cancer. The project funders are using the data to develop detailed policy briefs focusing on specific health care concerns and interests.
For additional details, including an executive summary, visit http://www.cthealth.org/blog/connecticut-health-care-survey/.
For some high-level survey results, see the Hartford Business Journal article, http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20140515/NEWS01/140519958/1002.