NSLTCP Frame Advance Package NCHS Letter

Attachment B.2 NSLTCP Frame Advance Package NCHS 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 Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Study (NPALS) (formerly known as the National Study of Long-Term Care Providers or 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 1.5 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 NPALS, the definition of a residential care community is one that is regulated by the state to provide room and board, regardless of payer source, 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 populations exclusively or the intellectually disabled/developmentally disabled populations exclusively are excluded. Nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are excluded, unless they have a unit or wing meeting the above definition and residents can be separately enumerated.

Data collection is authorized under Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242k). NCHS is required to keep your survey data confidential in accordance with Section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA, Title 5 of PL 107-347). Data collected will be used for statistical purposes only. In addition, NCHS complies with the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. §§ 151 & 151 note). See reverse for more information. Enclosed is an NCHS confidentiality brochure. If you have any further questions about confidentiality, call NCHS’ Confidentiality Officer at (888) 642-1459.

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

Sincerely,

Jennifer Madans, PhD

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.

FAQs

WHO WILL SEE MY INFORMATION?

We take your privacy very seriously. The information you give us is used for statistical research only. This means that your information will be combined with other people’s information in a way that protects everyone’s identity. As required by federal law, only those NCHS employees, our specially designated agents (such as RTI International), and our full research partners who must use your personal information for a specific reason can see your list. Anyone else is allowed to use your data only after all information that could identify you has been removed.

Strict laws prevent us from releasing information that could identify your information to anyone else without your consent. A number of federal laws require that all information we collect be held in strict confidence: Section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)), the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA, Title 5 of Public Law 107-347), and the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a). Every NCHS employee, contractor, research partner, and agent has taken an oath to keep your information private. Anyone who willfully discloses ANY identifiable information could get a jail term of up to five years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

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