DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36785.v1
title: Primary Care Audit Study for 10 States in the United States, 2012-2013, 2014 & 2016
title: Version 1

description: Coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has important implications for access, and the value of coverage is dependent on the ability to access care. Most information about access to care comes from household or physician surveys.
The current data collection was gathered as a part of the Primary Care Audit Study for 10 States in the United States, 2012-2013, 2014 and 2016 to assess variation in access to primary care using a methodology that was applied across different types of states (Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas) at baseline and over-time. The project was broken up into three phases: before the ACA (2012-2013), during the launch of ACA coverage provisions such as the Medicaid fee bump and ACA marketplaces (2014), and after the full ACA implementation (2016). Insurance types in the study included commercial coverage, Medicaid, uninsured, and, in 2014 and 2016, plans purchased on the ACA market place.
The audit-level file, featured in part one of the collection, includes all completed calls and provides information from multiple dimensions (appointment availability, wait times, simulated patients' demographics, cost information, etc.).
The office-level file, featured in part two of the collection, covers all eligible offices and their characteristics (e.g., size, insurance acceptability, cost information, etc.) collected from the screening phase.
Demographic variables include simulated caller number, race, gender, and age.
description: The study's purpose was to assess variation in access to primary care using a methodology that simulated patient experiences and could be used to track access over time.
description: The study used audit methodology (phone calls to medical offices from simulated consumers) to measure access to care under a variety of scenarios. The experiences of trained field staff posing as new patients seeking primary care appointments were tracked. This methodology was applied across 10 selected states in the United States (Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas).
Trained field staff were randomly assigned to an insurance type and a script requesting the earliest appointment with a specified primary care physician (PCP) or any other available provider. An appointment was defined as available if the caller was offered a specific date and time.
Simulated audit calls were conducted in three time periods/waves: from November 2012 through March 2013, from May 2014 through July 2014, and from February 2016 through June 2016.
description: The study includes the following weight variables that should be used in analysis:

WTN
G
PPOP_G
description: Primary care offices were sampled using the SK and A Office-Based Physician Database. The sampled offices needed at least one primary care physician (PCP) who treated adults and participated in at least one of the plans in the relevant insurance type.
A pre-audit screening was performed to collect office-level characteristics and to remove unqualified offices (e.g., closed, out of scope, unreachable, etc.). Some offices were later removed from the sample frame during the audit phase because of ineligibility.
Offices were randomly selected within county, insurance type, and time period according to the population's insurance type distribution.
In total, 11,192 unique primary care offices were selected as the final office cohort.
Completed calls totaled 12,919 during the first period, 12,848 during the second period, and 14,857 during the third period.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Audit Data
DS2: Office Data
description: Primary care offices (call centers) with at least one primary care physician (PCP) in 10 states (Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas) during three time periods: November 2012 through March 2013, May 2014 through July 2014, and February 2016 through June 2016. Smallest Geographic Unit: county
description: telephone interview