Advance Package Cover Letter

Attachment C.2: NCHS’ Advance Package Cover Letter

[NCHS Letterhead]

Date

Name of State Representative

Name of Agency

Agency Address

Agency City, State, Zip

Dear <Name of State Representative>,

The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is building a list of all state-regulated assisted living and similar residential care communities in the United States. NCHS will select a representative sample from this list to participate in the National Study of Long-Term Care Providers (NSLTCP).

We are asking for your help as we construct this list. A representative of RTI International will contact you soon to arrange an appointment for a short telephone call. During this call we will verify your state’s current regulatory categories for residential care facilities and request an electronic listing (preferably in Excel format) of facilities in these regulatory categories, if one is not available on your state’s website. We expect the process to take on average 2.5 hours. Your participation is voluntary, but will assist greatly in helping further our nation’s understanding of assisted living and similar types of residential care communities.

For NSLTCP, the definition of a residential care community is one that is regulated by the state to provide room and board with at least two meals a day, provide around-the-clock on-site supervision, and help with activities of daily living (e.g., bathing, eating, or dressing) or health related services, such as medication supervision; serves primarily an adult population; and has at least four licensed, certified, or regulated beds. Facilities licensed to serve the mentally ill or the intellectually disabled/ developmentally disabled populations exclusively are excluded. Nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are also excluded, unless they have a unit or wing meeting the above definition and residents can be separately enumerated.

This data collection is authorized by Section 306 of the Public Health Services Act (Title 42, U.S. code 242K). As required by federal law (Section 308(d) of the Public Health Services Act in 42, U.S. Code, 242m(d) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act Title 5 of PL 107-347), all information collected will be used only for statistical purposes and held in the strictest confidence. Enclosed is an NCHS confidentiality brochure. If you have any further questions about confidentiality, call NCHS’ Confidentiality Officer Eve Powell-Griner at (888) 642-1459.

Thank you in advance for your help with this important endeavor.

Sincerely,

Charles J. Rothwell, BS, MBA, MS

Acting Director, National Center for Health Statistics

If you would like to learn more about this study, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsltcp.htm.

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