Achieving a High Response Rate With a Health Care Provider Survey, Washington State, 2006

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence of deficiencies in patient safety, health outcomes, cost, and overall quality of care in the United States has led to proposed initiatives and conceptual frameworks for improvement. A means for feasible, valid, and ongoing measurement of health care quality is necessary for planning and evaluating such initiatives. COMMUNITY CONTEXT: We sought to assess and improve health care quality for the management of chronic diseases in Washington State. We used the Chronic Care Model to develop a survey for health care providers and systems that measured quality of care and monitored improvement for multiple chronic conditions. METHODS: We surveyed a random sample of primary care providers and their clinic managers. We used 2 complementary tools: a provider questionnaire (administered by mail) and a clinic manager questionnaire (administered by telephone) to measure intermediate indicators of health care quality. OUTCOME: We achieved high response rates (78% for physicians, 82% for physician assistants, and 71% for clinic managers). INTERPRETATION: Our survey administration methods, or modified versions of these methods, may be effective for obtaining high response rates as part of ongoing monitoring of health care quality.