2015 FollowBack Survey Description

Attachment 3h - 2015 Followback Survey Description
Description of the 2015 NHIS Followback Survey

The 2015 NHIS Followback survey will build on the pilot testing and
methodological work completed in the National Health Care Interview
Survey (NHCIS), which was conducted in 2013. The NHCIS recontacted a
probability sample of 2012 NHIS sample adult respondents to expand
the depth and breadth of information related to the Affordable Care
Act. Administered by the Census Bureau, this multimode follow-back
survey provided valuable health-related information on a nationally
representative sample at a second point in time. Its secondary
purpose was to evaluate the feasibility of leveraging the NHIS to
develop internet panels for future followback surveys as a less
expensive and quicker alternative to telephone and in-person
interviews.
Similar to the NHCIS, in 2015 a probability sample of
approximately 12,000 adult respondents that are not part of the
sample frame for the MEPS will be identified to respond to the NHIS
Followback survey several months after their original NHIS interview.
Particular focus will be on uninsured, newly insured, and those who
have changed insurance in the past year.
Respondents will be approached by postal letter or email to
complete the roughly 20 minute long, self-administered NHIS
Followback survey via a mail questionnaire, an internet form or a
telephone interview. The questionnaire to be used in the NHIS
Followback survey (included as Attachment 3g) was pilot tested in the
2013 NHCIS and draws its content almost entirely from NHIS
questionnaire items. Because the 2015 NHIS Followback survey uses a
combination of mail, telephone and internet modes for data
collection, its coverage is more complete than a followback that uses
only the internet; at the same time, this approach allows us to build
on the preliminary work done in the 2013 NHCIS to evaluate the
quality of the data from an internet-only followback survey.