Invitation Letter

Attachment 3 – Invitational letter

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

3311 Toledo Road

Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

Date

Full name

Street address

City, State, Zip

Dear [Fill]:

Recently, you participated in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Supplement on Electronic Health Records, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Thank you very much for your participation. Now, I hope that you will be able to help us in some follow-up research.

We are developing a new survey called the Asthma Management Supplement. This survey will help us learn about clinical decision making about asthma management made by physicians in ambulatory care settings. It will also help us to understand the barriers to implementing strategies to manage and control asthma.

Someone from the National Center for Health Statistics’ Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory will call to ask if you are willing to participate in a research interview. These research interviews will be used to help us to improve the survey questions before they are fielded.

If you are willing to participate in a one-hour, in-person research survey and interview, you will receive $100 as token of our appreciation.

Participation is, of course, voluntary, and you or your staff may refuse to answer any question or may stop participating at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. As with NAMCS all of your data will be kept confidential.¹

If you would like to schedule an interview or if you have any questions about this research, please call Liz Zarate at 301-458-4335. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this research study, please call the Research Ethics Review Board at the National Center for Health Statistics, toll-free, at 1-800-223-8118. Please leave a brief message with your name and phone number. Say that you are calling about Protocol #2010-19, amendment #11. [Note: The amendment number will be inserted into the form once NCHS ERB approval has been received].Your call will be returned as soon as possible. We greatly appreciate your interest and your help and do look forward to working with you on this very important topic.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Sondik, Ph.D.

Director, National Center for Health Statistics

3311 Toledo Road

Hyattsville, MD 20782

¹This study is authorized by Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (Title 42, U.S. Code, 242k). All information collected as part of this study will be used for statistical purposes only and held in the strictest confidence according to Section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42, U.S. Code, 242m(d)) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (Title 5 of PL 107-347).