Attachment 2 - Invitation Letter

Attachment 2 – Invitational letter

letter of invitation

February ____, 2009

Dear Hospital Administrator/Director of Medical Records:

Dear ________________

I am writing to you today to request your hospital’s participation in a very important study on birth certificate data. The study is sponsored by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As you may know, our state was among the first to use the 2003 Revision of U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth (the new birth certificate), and to implement the data collection procedures associated with the new certificate.

Birth certificate data are used to monitor the health of women giving birth and their infants, as well as to determine public policy and funding for maternal and child health at the local, state and national level. Since use of the new certificate includes new data items and changes in how these data are collected, it is crucial to ascertain how these new items and collection procedures are working. To do so, we will be conducting focus groups and cognitive interviews to get information from those who are on the front lines, actually collecting birth certificate data, about the new certificate. The studies will be conducted by staff of the National Center for Health Statistics who are experts in doing these types of interviews; the focus group will last approximately 90 minutes. Each cognitive interview will last approximately 60 minutes. Participants will receive $75.00.

The goal of this study is to identify issues associated with collecting the new birth data that are common across hospitals and also to gather ideas on approaches to improving data quality via the collection process. Information regarding individual hospitals or participants will be kept confidential. By law, NCHS and its collaborators cannot release information to anyone which could identify the hospital or participants without permission [(Public Health Service Act Section 308(d) (42 USC 242m) and the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USE 552A)].

So that your hospital can participate in these studies, please provide me with contact information within the next two weeks, for those on your staff who might be willing to participate, whose primary responsibility is collection of birth certificate data, and who have been doing this job for at least six months. Please provide the contact information by faxing the enclosed form to me at 360-753-4135. Please also feel free to send the information by e-mail (pat.starzyk@doh.wa.gov) or by telephone at 360-236-4323. Your staff will be contacted by Karen Whitaker, Program Specialist and Recruiter from NCHS, to arrange a time and place for the interview.

Hospital and individual participation in this study is entirely voluntary. We hope you will support this important effort to improve and enhance the quality of birth certificate data. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or wish to discuss anything further. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Patricia M.Starzyk, Ph.D.

Research Investigator

Department of Health

Center for Health Statistics

Email: pat.starzyk@doh.wa.gov

Phone: 360-236-4323

Fax: 360-753-4135

Enclosure

Contact Information

TO: Patricia M.Starzyk, Ph.D.

FAX: 360-753-4135

Phone: 360-236-4323

Re: Birth Certificate Data Study

From (Name and title): ___________________________

Hospital__________________________

FAX:

Phone:

Dr. Starzyk,

Karen Whitaker from the National Center for Health Statistics may contact the following hospital staff to ask if they are willing to participate in the study of how birth certificate data are collected.

Name and Title_____________________________________________________________

Phone:________________________________________________________________________

Name and Title_____________________________________________________________

Phone:________________________________________________________________________

Name and Title_____________________________________________________________

Phone:________________________________________________________________________

Signature __________________________________________________