Introductory letter 2020

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road
Room 3543
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

Full Name
Address 1
Address 2
City, State, Zip

Date

NHAMCS
Endorsing Organizations
American College of
Emergency Physicians
(ACEP)
American College of
Osteopathic Emergency
Physicians (ACOEP)
Emergency Nurses
Association (ENA)
Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine
(SAEM)
Society for Ambulatory
Anesthesia (SAMBA)
American Health
Information Management
Association (AHIMA)

Dear Provider
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has been
conducting the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), an annual study of
hospital-based outpatient care, since 1992. The purpose of this study is to collect information about the
large portion of ambulatory care provided by hospital emergency departments throughout the United
States. The information requested includes data about patient visits, and hospital and department
characteristics.
Many organizations and leaders in the health care community, including those providing the enclosed
letters of endorsement, have expressed their support and join me in urging your participation in this
meaningful study. You may refuse to participate or choose not to answer any question at any time without
penalty or loss of benefits. Your participation in the study will be of no direct benefit to you or your
hospital, however, it will ensure that hospitals like yours are represented in research that examines the
utilization and provision of hospital-based ambulatory medical care services in the United States.
The study will be conducted in three phases using an electronic questionnaire and will focus on a sample
of patient encounters during a randomly assigned 4-week reporting period. A representative of the U.S.
Census Bureau, acting as our agent, will be calling you to schedule an appointment regarding the details
of your participation.
During the first phase, the representative will conduct an interview with you or your designee that focuses
on some of the characteristics of your hospital and the capabilities of your electronic health records
system; it should take about 30 minutes. For the second phase, each Emergency Service Area
administrator or their designee is interviewed to determine eligible ambulatory care service areas; it
should also take about 30 minutes. The final phase, which requires minimal input from your staff, is the
abstraction of sampled patient encounters from your medical 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 so you may refuse to answer any question or stop
participating at any time without penalty or loss of benefits.
NCHS employees and agents, including employees of the Census Bureau, comply with the requirements
of Section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 United States Code 242m(d)), the Confidential
Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA, Title 5 of Public Law 107-347), the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (Public Law 104-191), and the Privacy Act
of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. NCHS and Census Bureau employees working on this study are required by
law to keep all information about your hospital and patients confidential. This information is 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.
If you have any questions regarding your participation, please call a NHAMCS representative at (800)
223-3815. Or, if you have questions about your rights as a participant in this research study, please call the
NCHS Research Ethics Review Board, toll free, at (800) 223-8118. Visit the NHAMCS participants
website for more information about the survey (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/nhamcs_participant.htm).
We greatly appreciate your cooperation.
Sincerely,

Brian C. Moyer, Ph.D.
Director