Att M1- 2021 NAMCS Advance Letters

Attachment M2: NAMCS 2021 Advance Letters
U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road, Room 3409
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

Month, Date, Year

Name Here
Additional Info
Street Address
City, State, Zip

NAMCS Endorsing
Organizations
American Academy of Ambulatory Care
Nursing
American Academy of Dermatology
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Otolaryngology–
Head and Neck Surgery
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation
American College of Cardiology
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive
Medicine
American College of Surgeons

Physician letter Option 1

Dear Dr. (last name),
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS) is conducting the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). This
annual study, which has been in the field since 1973, collects information about
the large portion of ambulatory care provided by physicians and advanced practice
providers throughout the United States. Statistical analysis using NAMCS helps to inform
physicians, health care researchers, and policy makers about the changing characteristics
of ambulatory health care in this country. The information that we will request includes
data about patient visits (e.g., demographics, diagnoses, services, and treatments);
physician practice characteristics (e.g., practice type); and use of electronic health records.
Many organizations and leaders in the health care community, including those providing
the enclosed letter of endorsement, have expressed their support and join me in urging
your participation in this meaningful study. You will be asked to allow the abstraction of a
sample of about 30 patient encounters during a randomly assigned, 1-week reporting
period. Additionally, there is a short interview (approximately 30 minutes) with you about
the nature of your practice. We intend to conduct additional health care statistical analysis
by linking National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) and Federal Tax Identification Numbers
collected in this study to health care-related data such as Medicare records. In the weeks
following the completion of this study, you may be contacted again for a 15-minute
reinterview, which is conducted as a quality control measure. Participation is voluntary,
and you or your staff may refuse to answer any question or stop participating at any time
without penalty or loss of benefits.
The following are some key points about the survey:

American Osteopathic Association
American Psychiatric Association

•

Data collection for NAMCS is authorized by Section 306 of the Public Health Service
Act (Title 42, U.S. Code, 242k).

•

All information collected will be held in confidence according to Section 308(d) of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) and the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (Title III of the Foundations for EvidenceBased Policymaking Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 § 302)). This
information will be used for statistical purposes only. No patient names, social security
numbers, or addresses are collected.

American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Urological Association
National Association of Community
Health Centers

NAMCS Endorsing
Organizations

•

In addition, NAMCS conforms to the Privacy Rule (45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts
A and E of Part 164) as mandated by HIPAA (Public Law 104–191) because
disclosure of patient data is permitted for public health purposes.

•

U.S. Census Bureau employees, who administer the study, are required by law to
keep all information about your practice and patients confidential.

•

Disclosure of this information is also subject to all of the published routine uses as
identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notice 09-20-0167 Health
Resources Utilization Statistics.

American Academy of Ambulatory Care
Nursing
American Academy of Dermatology
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Otolaryngology–
Head and Neck Surgery
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation
American College of Cardiology
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive
Medicine
American College of Surgeons
American Osteopathic Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Urological Association
National Association of Community
Health Centers

A Census Bureau employee, acting as our agent, will call you to schedule an
appointment regarding the details of your participation. If you have any questions,
please call a NAMCS representative at 1–800–392–2862. You can also find additional
information on the survey by visiting the NAMCS participant website at:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/namcs_participant.htm.
You may have questions about your rights as a participant in this study. If so, please
call the Ethics Review Board at 1–800–223–8118. Please leave a brief message with
your name and phone number and say that you are calling about Protocol 2016–03.
Your call will be returned as soon as possible.
We greatly appreciate your cooperation.
Sincerely,

U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road, Room 3409
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

Physician letter Option 2
Dr. X, M.D.
You have been selected to participate in the 2020 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS).

What is
the NAMCS?

NAMCS is an annual survey of physicians in the United States conducted by the National Center
for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S.
Census Bureau collects the data for NCHS. Since 1973, NAMCS data have informed physicians,
health care researchers, and policy makers about the changing characteristics of ambulatory
health care in this country. This helps us develop programs to keep America healthy. To learn
more, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/namcs_participant.htm.
Participation in NAMCS is voluntary. You or your staff may discontinue participation at any
time without penalty or loss of benefits. Success of the study depends on the willingness of
physicians like yourself to provide important data. In addition, there are many benefits for
participation, including:

Why should I
participate?

What to
do now

What to
expect

• Help patients. Policy makers use NAMCS data to ensure medical care is being provided to
patients who need it, where they need it.
• Help physicians. Professional organizations endorse NAMCS and use its data to inform best
practice guidelines for medical care providers.
• Help other health care providers. NAMCS data are used to improve training for health care
workers, inform medical practice management, and evaluate quality of care.
• Help your family members, friends, and community. NAMCS data help researchers
understand how we can achieve and sustain good health care practices we all want for
ourselves and for the people we love.
There is no need to do anything now. A Census Bureau interviewer, acting as our agent, will call
you to schedule an appointment. The interviewer will also ask to collect information from about
30 patient encounters that should also only take a few minutes of your office staff’s time. If you
have any questions, please call a NAMCS representative at 1-800-392-2862.
1. A U.S. Census Bureau interviewer (with a Census Bureau ID) will call your office.
2. He/she will ask you a few questions to determine if you are eligible to participate.
3. If you are eligible, he/she will schedule a time for the interview.
4. The interviewer will ask you or your office staff about physician practice characteristics.
For most physicians, the survey interview will take less than 30 minutes. If you prefer, a
knowledgeable member of your office staff may complete the interview for you.
5. Working with office staff, the interviewer will collect information on patient encounters
during a randomly assigned 1-week period.
You Cannot be Replaced. We want the survey data to represent all physicians in the United
States. We do that by interviewing a randomly selected sample of physicians. Only those
selected can take part. We cannot replace you with another person.
Confidentiality Ensured. Everything you tell us is confidential. Your and your patients’
information is ONLY used for statistical purposes. We remove all personally identifying
information from the data. After that, the data are posted on the NAMCS website for future
research and to guide public health decisions.

Thank you for participating in this important survey.
Sincerely,

Brian C. Moyer, PhD
Director, National Center for Health Statistics

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
NATIONAL AMBULATORY MEDICAL CARE SURVEY (NAMCS)

1. HOW WAS I CHOSEN FOR THE SURVEY?
You were randomly selected from all nonfederal physicians in the U.S. who are engaged in office-based
patient care. Every year we pick about 3,000 physicians across the entire country. All office-based physicians
have a chance to be picked. This process ensures that the physicians selected represent all practitioners in the
United States.
2. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO ASK ME?
NAMCS asks about a number of topics. Our U.S. Census Bureau interviewer will walk you through the entire
process and do all the data collection using a computer-assisted interviewing instrument. Some examples of
what we collect about you include general information about the office location(s) where you practice, types of
direct patient care you provide, electronic health record (EHR) use, and patient care revenue. The interviewer
will then also collect some information for about 30 patient encounters, such as patient’s reason for visit,
diagnosis, diagnostic and screening services, medication therapy, and expected source of payment. Most
physicians have no difficulty with any of the questions in NAMCS; however, some might find some questions
to be sensitive. You or your staff may choose not to answer any or all questions in this survey and can stop at
any time. There are no penalties for refusing to answer questions. However, the information we collect is very
important. We need your help to ensure that the survey results are complete and correct. You are getting a
special chance to make a difference in the health of the nation.
3. CAN I COMPLETE THE SURVEY ONLINE?
One of the reasons NAMCS is the U.S. gold standard health care survey is that the data are collected by highly
trained and skilled U.S. Census Bureau interviewers. There is currently no online option for NAMCS.
4. WHAT LAWS PROTECT MY PRIVACY?
Congress authorized NAMCS data collection in Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (Title 42, U.S.
Code, 242k). All information collected will be held in confidence according to Section 308(d) of the Public
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency
Act (Title III of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132
Stat. 5529 § 302). The data you provide will be used for statistical purposes only. No patient names, social
security numbers, or addresses are collected. In addition, NAMCS conforms to the Privacy Rule (45 CFR Part
160 and Subparts A and E of Part 164) as mandated by HIPAA (Public Law 104-191) because disclosure of
patient data is permitted for public health purposes, and the NCHS Ethics Review Board has approved
NAMCS. Every NCHS employee, contractor, research partner, and agent has taken an oath to keep your
information private. Anyone who willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about ANYONE in the
survey could get a jail term of up to five years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.
5. WHO PROTECTS THE INTERESTS OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS?
Every year, the Ethics Review Board of the National Center for Health Statistics reviews survey content and
methods to protect study participants. You may call the Research Ethics Review Board to ask about your rights
as a participant in this research study. The toll-free number is 1–800–223–8118. You will get an answering
service. Please leave a brief message with your name and phone number. Say you are calling about Protocol
#2016-03. Your call will be returned promptly.

Proposed CHC Induction Letter
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road
Hyattsville, Maryland 2078

Dear:
Your Community Health Center (CHC) location has been selected to participate in the National Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). NAMCS collects information about the large portion of ambulatory care provided
by physicians and advanced practice providers throughout the United States. Your CHC’s participation is crucial
to the success of this program! You can find details about NAMCS below.

What is NAMCS?
NAMCS is an annual survey of physicians in the United States conducted by the National Center for Health
Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 1973, NAMCS data have
informed physicians, health care researchers, and policy makers about the changing characteristics of ambulatory
health care in this country. This helps us develop programs to keep America healthy. The survey collects critical
data (including patient identifiers) via your CHC’s electronic health records (EHR) to produce national statistics on
health care. To learn more, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/namcs_participant.htm .

Why should your CHC participate?
Participation in NAMCS is voluntary. You or your staff may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or
loss of benefits. Success of the study depends on the willingness of CHCs like yours to provide important data. In
addition, there are many benefits for participation, including:
•
•
•

National Health Care Services Registry. NAMCS is one of the collections working together with the
CMS EHR Incentive Programs: Promoting Interoperability (PI) (formerly known as Meaningful Use) and
the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Registration is free of charge.
Compensation. Your CHC will be compensated for work done to set up EHR transmission to NCHS.
Help your family members, friends, and community. NAMCS data help researchers understand how we
can achieve and sustain good health care practices we all want for ourselves and for the people we love.

Is your CHC’s data protected?
Information collected in this study will not be published in any manner that will allow identification of individual
CHCs or patients. The Ethics Review Board (ERB) at CDC’s NCHS has reviewed and approved all aspects of this
study. Please be assured that we are required by law to keep all data regarding patients and facilities strictly
confidential and to use these data only for research and statistical purposes.

What’s next?
A representative from the recruitment contractor for NAMCS, will contact you soon to discuss how your CHC
can participate. If you have any questions, please call a NAMCS representative at 1-800-392-2862. We look
forward to working with you on this crucial data collection effort!
Sincerely,

Brian C. Moyer, PhD
Director, National Center for Health Statistics
You may have questions about your rights as a participant in this research study. If so, please call the National Center for Health
Statistics ERB 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 #2016-03.

Proposed PI/MIPS Letter
Dear ,
Thank you for registering with the National Health Care Surveys to meet the
public health registry reporting measure of the public health and clinical data exchange objective, under the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs: Promoting Interoperability (PI) and/or
the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is inviting Eligible
Professionals (EPs) to participate in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) to fulfill their commitment
to submit electronic data to the National Health Care Surveys. This annual study collects information about ambulatory
care provided by physicians and midlevel providers throughout the United States. Research using NAMCS helps to
inform physicians, health care researchers, and policy makers about the changing characteristics of ambulatory health care
in this country.
The purpose of this letter is to invite your providers to participate in the NAMCS. Specifically, we are requesting patient
electronic health record (EHR) data from encounters with the following physicians:
Physician Name, NPI, and specified reporting week
Physician Name, NPI, and specified reporting week
Physician Name, NPI, and specified reporting week
To begin this process, please email [email protected] to schedule a telephone conference call within the next 30
days.
Included in this FedEx is a document titled “Preparing and Submitting Test Data for Validation to NCHS”, which
provides an overview of the testing and validation process. Data will be submitted to NCHS from your EHR.
The following are some key points about the survey:
•

Data collection for NAMCS is authorized by Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (Title 42, U.S. Code,
242k).

•

All information collected will be held in the strictest confidence according to Section 308(d) of the Public Health
Service Act (42, U.S.C. 242m(d)) and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (Title
III of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 §
302)). This information will be used for statistical purposes only.

•

NAMCS conforms to the Privacy Rule (45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and E of Part 164) as mandated by
HIPAA because disclosure of patient data is permitted for public health purposes.

You may have questions about your rights as a participant in this research study. If so, please call the Research Ethics
Review Board at 1-800-223-8118. Please leave a brief message with your name and phone number and say that you
are calling about Protocol 2016-03. Your call will be returned as soon as possible.
We greatly appreciate your cooperation.
Sincerely,

Brian C. Moyer, Ph.D.
Director, National Center for Health Statistics