Are survey measures of medical care utilisation misleading? A comparison of self-reported medical care consumption with actual medical care utilisation

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dc.contributor.authorMarshall, R
dc.contributor.authorGrayson, David A
dc.contributor.authorJorm, Anthony F
dc.contributor.authorO'Toole, B
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T22:32:51Z
dc.date.available2015-12-10T22:32:51Z
dc.date.issued2001
dc.date.updated2015-12-09T10:20:00Z
dc.description.abstractA substantial over-estimate of medical care consumption cost was found when estimates from self-report data from an epidemiological study were compared to actual cost data extracted from administrative records. Even though the few subjects who were actually provided with two or more services in the two-week self-report period substantially under-reported their medical care consumption, a large net over-estimate of medical care consumption was produced by the self-report data. This finding has important implications for use of self-report data from surveys such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Health Survey for estimating health service consumption. By combining epidemiological survey data from the Australian Vietnam Veterans Health Study (AVVHS), with data on actual medical care for which the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) or the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) paid benefits, we were able to directly compare self-reported medical care consumption with actual medical care utilisation. The comparison revealed that veterans' self-reports were a valid measure of relative medical care consumption because those who reported care over the past two weeks were much more likely to have been recent consumers than those who did not. This relationship became even stronger if the comparison of self-report was extended to data on benefits paid beyond the two-week self-report period. However, the HIC and DVA data confirmed only 51% of veterans self-reporting medical care consumption during the past two weeks actually received a service.
dc.identifier.issn0156-5788
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/55955
dc.publisherAustralian Hospital Association
dc.sourceAustralian Health Review
dc.subjectKeywords: article; Australia; comparative study; epidemiology; health care cost; health service; human; interview; reproducibility; utilization review; veteran; Health Care Surveys; Health Expenditures; Health Services; Humans; Interviews; New South Wales; Reproduc
dc.titleAre survey measures of medical care utilisation misleading? A comparison of self-reported medical care consumption with actual medical care utilisation
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage99
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage91
local.contributor.affiliationMarshall, R, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationGrayson, David A, University of Sydney
local.contributor.affiliationJorm, Anthony F, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationO'Toole, B, University of Melbourne
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidMarshall, R, u2558993
local.contributor.authoruidJorm, Anthony F, u8409322
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.absfor111706 - Epidemiology
local.identifier.ariespublicationMigratedxPub346
local.identifier.citationvolume24
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-0035237378
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByMigrated
local.type.statusPublished Version

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