Community Tracking Study Series

collection: series

Investigator(s): Center for Studying Health System Change

Studies

14

Variables

7,529

Publications

687

About this Collection

The Community Tracking Study (CTS), a project of the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), is a large-scale longitudinal investigation of health system change and its effects on people. Designed to track a cohort of American communities at two-year intervals beginning in 1996, this major research effort, sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), gathers information to monitor and understand the evolution of health care in the United States. CTS is investigating the ways in which hospitals, health plans, physicians, safety-net providers, and other provider groups are restructuring their systems, and the forces driving the organizational changes. Additionally, the project tracks health insurance coverage, access to care, use of health services, health care costs, and perceived quality of health care. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. Much of the information collected by CTS comes from nationally representative surveys of households, health plans, and physicians conducted by HSC. The Household Survey is administered to households in the 60 CTS sites, plus a supplemental national sample of households, covering some 60,000 individuals. A survey of health plans, the Followback Survey, elicits detailed information on private health insurance coverage reported in the Household Survey from organizations that offer or administer private health insurance policies in the CTS sites. The Physician Survey interviews physicians in the 60 CTS sites and a supplemental national sample of physicians. RWJF has built a network of research organizations that are studying various facets of the changing health care system, some of which are simultaneously examining the CTS communities. Stephen H. Long and M. Susan Marquis at RAND conducted an employer survey (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Employer Health Insurance Survey [Community Tracking Study and State Initiatives in Health Care Reform Program], 1997) with a special emphasis on the 60 CTS sites. At UCLA and RAND, Kenneth B. Wells, Audrey Burman, and Roland Sturm are examining how public policies and markets are affecting access to substance abuse and mental health services. Their survey, National Survey of Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Problems [Healthcare for Communities], 1997-1998, reinterviewed some 9,600 respondents from the CTS Household Survey about their health and daily activities, use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and medications, health insurance coverage and coverage for mental health, plus access to, utilization, and quality of behavioral health care.

Studies

14 results
Partially restricted

Community Tracking Study Household Survey, 1998-1999, and Followback Survey, 1998-2000: [United States]

This collection comprises the second round of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Household Survey and the second round of the CTS Followback Survey. The CTS, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a national study designed to track changes in the health care system and their effects on care delivery and individuals. Fifty-one metropolitan areas and nine nonmetropolitan areas were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. As in the first round of the Household Survey (COMMUNITY TRACKING STUDY HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, 1996-1997, AND FOLLOWBACK SURVEY, 1997-1998: [UNITED STATES] (ICPSR 2524)), the second round of the Household Survey was administered to households in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of households. Respondents provided information about household composition and demographic characteristics, health insurance coverage, use of health services, unmet health care needs, out-of-pocket expenses for health care, usual source of care, patient trust and satisfaction, last visit to a medical provider, health status and presence of chronic health conditions, risk behaviors and smoking, and employment, earnings, and income. The purpose of the Followback Survey was to obtain detailed information on private health insurance coverage reported in the Household Survey. It was administered to the health plans and other organizations (managed care organizations, third-party administrators, employer or union plans, and employers) that offered or administered the respondents' comprehensive private health insurance policies. Information on private health insurance policies collected by the Followback Survey includes product type, gatekeeping, consumer cost sharing, provider payment methods, and coverage of mental health and/or substance abuse services.
Partially restricted

Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, 1998-1999: [United States]

This study comprises the second round of the physician survey component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The CTS is a national study designed to track changes in the American health care system and the effects of the changes on care delivery and on individuals. Central to the design of the CTS is its community focus. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. As in the first round of the physician survey (COMMUNITY TRACKING STUDY PHYSICIAN SURVEY, 1996-1997: [UNITED STATES] (ICPSR 2597)), the second round was administered to physicians in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of physicians. The survey instrument collected information on physician supply and specialty distribution, practice arrangements and physician ownership of practices, physician time allocation, sources of practice revenue, level and determinants of physician compensation, provision of charity care, career satisfaction, physicians' perceptions of their ability to deliver care, views on care management strategies, and various other aspects of physicians' practice of medicine. In addition, primary care physicians (PCPs) were asked to recommend courses of action in response to some vignettes of clinical presentations for which there was no prescribed method of treatment.

Dataset 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, identifies the counties that constitute each CTS site.

Dataset 4, the Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level estimates and standard errors of the estimates for selected physician characteristics, e.g., the percentage of physicians who were foreign medical school graduates, the mean age of physicians, and the mean percentage of patient care practice revenue from Medicaid.

Partially restricted

Community Tracking Study Household Survey, 1996-1997, and Followback Survey, 1997-1998: [United States]

This data collection comprises two components of the Community Tracking Study (CTS), the Household Survey and the Followback Survey. The CTS, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a national study designed to track changes in the health care system and their effects on care delivery and individuals. Central to the design of the CTS is its community focus. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. The Household Survey was administered to households in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of households. At the beginning of each interview, a household informant was identified and queried about the composition of the household. With this information, individuals in the household were grouped into family insurance units (FIU). An FIU reflects family groupings typically used by insurance carriers. It includes an adult household member, his or her spouse, if any, and any dependent children 0-17 years of age (or 18-22 years of age if a full-time student). Family informants, selected from each FIU in the household, provided information on health insurance coverage, health care use, usual source of care, and the general health of all persons in the FIU. These informants also provided information on family income and out-of-pocket expenses for health care, as well as employment, race, and Hispanic origin for all adult FIU members. Each adult in the household, including the FIU informants, responded through a self-response module to questions regarding unmet health care needs, patient trust, satisfaction with physician choice, limitations in daily activities, smoking behaviors, and last doctor visit. In FIUs with more than one child under 18, only one child was randomly selected for inclusion in the survey. The family informant responded on behalf of the child regarding unmet needs and satisfaction with physician choice. The adult family member who took this child to his or her last doctor visit responded to questions about the visit. The Followback Survey was designed to obtain detailed information on private health insurance coverage reported in the Household Survey. It was administered to health plans and other organizations that offered or administered the comprehensive private health insurance policies covering Household Survey respondents in the 60 CTS sites. Information on private health insurance policies collected by the Followback Survey includes product type, gatekeeping, consumer cost sharing, provider payment methods, and coverage of mental health and/or substance abuse services.

Variables

7,529 results
Back to top