Data items will remain constant over the two-year period so that data can be aggregated to produce approximately the same level of detail as in 1985 when 5,000 physicians were sampled. The National Hospital Discharge Survey was redesigned based on the integrated cluster sample design and fielded in 1988. The redesigned NHDS sample contains 542 hospitals and emphasizes the purchase of discharge data from hospital abstract services as a method of data collection. The design includes a nationally repre- sentative subsarnple of 128 hospitals which provide data on hard copy abstracts. This feature reduces the dependence on abstract services and provides nar- rative, as opposed to coded, diagnoses and procedures for special studies.
Research is currently underway via contract to develop a survey of ambulatory surgery centers.
Among the technical and methodological is- sues being addressed in this research are the development of a data set and data collection procedures and the investigation of potential sampling frames. Implementation of this survey is currently scheduled for 1993. Long-Term Care Contract research is ongoing to develop a survey of clients of home health agencies and hospices. Data content and data collection procedures are being developed and a field test is currently underway. This work follows earlier work on the evaluation of the Long-Term Care Minimum Data Set which provided information on the establishment of sampling frames and on the content and availability of minimum data set items in agency records.