Leveraging Non-Probability Data at the National Center for Health Statistics

Oregon Convention Center 

As the principal federal health statistics agency in the United States, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) guides actions and polices through the dissemination of health statistics. This data is collected through a variety of sources including vital records, population and healthcare provider surveys, and, more recently, probability-based commercial panel surveys. In addition, non-probability data have been considered in certain applications to expand research, data collection, and reporting of official health statistics. This presentation gives an overview of the non-probability data and methods being utilized at NCHS. This includes procedures for combining data from probability and non-probability panels, the use of non-probability data to produce more granular estimates, including small domain estimates, as well as oversampling hard-to-reach populations. NCHS has also utilized a commercially available non-probability hospital database to augment a probability-based sample of hospitals providing healthcare encounter data. This presentation concludes the session by discussing the considerations for using non-probability data in a federal statistical agency.