Achieving a high response rate with a health care provider survey, Washington State, 2006

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.

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.

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.

We achieved high response rates (78% for physicians, 82% for physician assistants, and 71% for clinic managers).

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.