The Research and Development Survey (RANDS) is a series of cross-sectional surveys using probability-sampled commercial survey panels. The fifth round of RANDS (RANDS 5) was administered by NORC at the University of Chicago using the AmeriSpeak Panel from January 1, 2022 to March 9, 2022. RANDS 5 contained the embedded probe questions and experiments as in previous rounds of RANDS. It also examined responses to gender identity questions as well as different survey administrations of questions appearing in CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). RANDS 5 has a known survey sampling design and can be used to produce nationally and sub-nationally representative estimates.

The 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities (NSRCF) is a first-ever national probability sample survey that collects data on U.S. residential care providers, their staffs and services, and the people they serve. It is designed to provide national estimates of the number of residential care facilities operating in the United States, the number of residents receiving care, and the characteristics of both the facilities and their residents. NSRCF was conducted between March and November 2010. All residential care facilities that participated in the survey were places that were licensed, registered, listed, certified, or otherwise regulated by the state and that had 4 or more licensed, certified, or registered beds, provided room and board with at least two meals a day, around-the-clock on-site supervision, and help with personal care such as bathing and dressing or health related services such as medication management. These facilities served a predominantly adult population and had at least one current resident. Facilities licensed to serve the mentally ill or the developmentally disabled populations exclusively were excluded from the survey.

The National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), conducted from 1965 to 2010, was a national probability survey designed to meet the need for information on characteristics of inpatients discharged from non-Federal short-stay hospitals in the United States. From 1988-2007 the NHDS collected data from a sample of approximately 270,000 inpatient records acquired from a national sample of about 500 hospitals. From 2008 to 2010 the sample size was reduced to 239. Only hospitals with an average length of stay of fewer than 30 days for all patients, general hospitals, or children’s general hospitals are included in the survey. Federal, military, and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, as well as hospital units of institutions (such as prison hospitals), and hospitals with fewer than six beds staffed for patient use, are excluded.

Beginning in 1988, two data collection procedures have been used in the survey. The medical abstract form and the automated data tapes contain items that relate to the personal characteristics of the patient. These items include age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, and expected sources of payment. Administrative items such as admission and discharge dates (which allow calculation of length of stay), as well as discharge status are also included. Medical information about patients includes diagnoses and procedures coded to the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM).

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’s (NHANES) National Youth Fitness Survey (NNYFS) was conducted in 2012 to collect nationally representative data on physical activity and fitness levels for U.S. children and adolescents aged 3-15 years, through household interviews and fitness tests conducted in mobile examination centers.

The NNYFS interview includes demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related questions. The fitness tests included standardized measurements of core, upper, and lower body muscle strength, and gross motor skills, as well as a measurement of cardiovascular fitness by walking and running on a treadmill. A total of 1,640 children and adolescents aged 3-15 were interviewed and 1,576 were examined.

This set of restricted data files contains indirect identifying and/or sensitive information collected in NNYFS. For NNYFS public use files, please visit NNYFS 2012 at: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/search/nnyfs12.aspx.
For more information on the survey design, implementation, and data analysis, see the NNYFS Analytic Guidelines at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nnyfs/analytic_guidelines.htm.
For more information on NHANES, visit the NHANES - National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Homepage at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm.

The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) has been fielded annually since 1992 to collect data on the utilization and provision of ambulatory care services in hospital emergency and outpatient departments. Data collection from hospital-based ambulatory surgery centers began in 2009. And between 2010 and 2012 NHAMCS gathered data on visits to freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. In 2018, the survey began focusing on just the ambulatory visits made to emergency departments.
Each emergency department is randomly assigned to a 4-week reporting period. During this period, data for a systematic random sample of visits are recorded by Census interviewers using a computerized Patient Record Form. Data are obtained on patient characteristics such as age, sex, race, and ethnicity, and visit characteristics such as patient’s reason for visit, provider’s diagnosis, services ordered or provided, and treatments, including medication therapy. In addition, data about the facility are collected as part of a survey induction interview.

The 2004 National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS), conducted between August and December of 2004, was reintroduced into the field after a five-year break, during which time the survey was redesigned and expanded to collect many new data items. The 2004 NNHS included a supplemental survey of nursing assistants employed by nursing homes, the National Nursing Assistant Survey (NNAS), which was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (APSE). Nursing assistants were considered eligible to participate in the survey if they 1) provided assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs); 2) were paid to provide those services; 3) were certified (or in the process of certification) to provide Medicare/Medicaid reimbursable services; 4) worked at least 16 hours per week; and 5) were employees of the nursing home and not contract employees. A sample of up to eight nursing assistants was selected from about half of the nursing home sample at the time of the facility interview. The NNAS was administered after the nursing home visit, using a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is a national survey designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. Findings are based on a sample of visits to non-federally employed office-based physicians who are primarily engaged in direct patient care. Physicians in the specialties (including designated sub-specialties) of anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology are excluded from the survey. The survey was conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and annually since 1989.
Data collection from the physician, rather than from the patient, provides an analytic base that expands information on ambulatory care collected through other NCHS surveys. Data about the physician and their practice characteristics are collected during a survey induction interview.
For survey years 1973 to 1991, there are two data files: one for patient visit data and a second for drug mention data. The second file is limited to those visits with mention of medication therapy. For the 1991 data, it is possible to link information on the drug file with information on the patient visit file. Beginning with the 1992 survey year through 2011, one main data file was produced annually that contains both patient visit and drug information.

The 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities (NSRCF) is a first-ever national probability sample survey that collects data on U.S. residential care providers, their staffs and
services, and the people they serve. It is designed to provide national estimates of the number of residential care facilities operating in the United States, the number of residents receiving care, and the characteristics of both the facilities and their residents. NSRCF was conducted between March and November 2010. All residential care facilities that participated in the survey were places that were licensed, registered, listed, certified, or otherwise regulated by the state and that had 4 or more licensed, certified, or registered beds, provided room and board with at least two meals a day, around-the-clock on-site supervision, and help with personal care such as bathing and dressing or health related services such as medication management. These facilities served a predominantly adult population and had at least one current resident. Facilities licensed to serve the mentally ill or the developmentally disabled populations exclusively were excluded from the survey.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data from physician offices to describe practice characteristics and patterns of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, NCHS added questions to the 2020 and 2021 NAMCS Physician Induction Interview to evaluate physicians’ experiences related to the pandemic. Specifically, physicians in office-based settings were asked about: shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE); experiences with COVID-19 testing; providers in their office who tested positive for COVID-19; turning away COVID-19 patients; and telemedicine or telehealth technology use at their office. Measures related to these topic areas are further described and displayed in data dashboards here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/namcs.htm.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. NAMCS began in 1973 as a national probability sample survey of visits to nonfederally employed office-based physicians. NCHS conducted the survey annually through 1981, again in 1985, and annually through 2021 (collection of visit data from physicians was stopped during 2020–2021 due to the burden placed on respondents by the COVID-19 pandemic). In 2006, a separate sample of Community Health Centers (CHCs) was added to the survey; the CHC component samples visits to both physicians and advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners, PAs [physician assistants and physician associates], and certified nurse midwives). Starting in 2012, in addition to the traditional NAMCS file, a separate data file for CHCs including physicians and advanced practice providers has been released.

In 2021, the former CHC sample of NAMCS was redesigned and launched as the NAMCS Health Center (HC) Component, collecting visit data from HCs using electronic health records, or EHR, systems of the participating health centers. The NAMCS Health Center Component contains critical data about health centers and the care they provide.