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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of adults who get recommended evidence-based preventive health care — AHS‑08 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Preventive Services Self-Administered Questionnaire (MEPS Preventive Services Survey), AHRQ

Baseline: 8.5 percent of adults aged 35 years and over received all of the recommended high priority appropriate clinical preventive services in 2015

Target: 11.5 percent

Numerator
Number of adults aged 35 and over who have received all the appropriate clinical preventive services recommended for them.
Denominator
Number of eligible adults aged 35 years and over selected from the MEPS-Household Component to participate in the survey.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because this is a new objective to Healthy People and only one data point was available. The Healthy People 2030 Workgroup Subject Matter Experts viewed this as an ambitious yet achievable target given the increasing emphasis on quality measurement and value-based care.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)
Numerator:
  1. Blood Pressure - During the past 24 months, have you had your blood pressure checked by a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional?
  2. Cholesterol - Within the past 5 years, have you had your blood cholesterol checked by a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional?
  3. Breast Cancer - Within the past 2 years, have you had a mammogram? A mammogram is an x-ray taken only of the breast by a machine that presses against the breast.
  4. Colon Cancer - Within the past 10 years, have you had a colonoscopy? Within the past 5 years, have you had a sigmoidoscopy? Within the past 12 months, have you had a blood stool test using a home kit?
  5. Cervical Cancer
    • Women ages 35-64 (service recommended).
    • Women ages 75 and older (service not recommended). Within the past 5 years, have you had a Pap test? A Pap smear or Pap test is a routine test in which the doctor takes a cell sample from the cervix with a small stick or brush, and sends it to the lab.
  6. Osteoporosis - Have you ever been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional that you have osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is when the bones become fragile and break easily. There are several tests to measure bone density and detect osteoporosis at an early stage, including a DEXA scan. Have you ever had your bone density measured?
  7. Prostate Specific Antigen (service not recommended) - About how old were you the last time you had a PSA test? A "P-S-A" is a blood test to detect prostate cancer. It is also called a prostate specific antigen test.
  8. Tobacco Use - Has a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional ever asked you if you smoke or use tobacco?
  9. Obesity - In the past 12 months, has a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional weighed you? In the past 12 months, has a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional given you advice about how to manage your weight, discussed weight loss goals with you, or referred you to a weight loss program to help with your diet and exercise?
  10. Alcohol Use - In the last 12 months, has a doctor, nurse, or other health professional asked you how much and how often you drink alcohol?
  11. Depression - In the past 12 months, has your doctor, nurse, or other health care professional asked you about your mood, such as whether you are anxious or depressed?
  12. Influenza - During the past 12 months, have you had either a flu shot (directly in the arm or into the skin) or a flu vaccine that was sprayed in your nose?
  13. Zoster - Have you had the shingles vaccine? The vaccine is called Zostavax®, the zoster vaccine, or the shingles vaccine. The chicken pox virus causes shingles. The vaccine has been available since May 2006.
  14. Pneumococcal - Have you ever had a pneumonia shot? A pneumonia shot or pneumococcal vaccine is usually only given once or twice in a person's lifetime.
  15. Aspirin Use - Has a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional ever discussed with you the use of aspirin to prevent heart attack or stroke?

Methodology notes

Detailed information can be found at the MEPS HC-173: 2014 Preventive Care Self-Administered Questionnaire File webpage.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Related, which includes objectives that have the same or a similar intent to either a measurable or developmental/archived objective in Healthy People 2020.
Revision History
Revised. 

The baseline was updated from 8.0 to 8.5 to exclude non-response survey results from the denominator and numerator. This resulted in a target change from 10.9 to 11.5.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.