THE REDESIGNING OF THE NATIONAL-HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY

STARTING IN 1997, on its 40th anniversary, the National Health Intervi ew Survey (NHIS) will begin collecting data in a radically redesigned form. The redesign was undertaken because interviews were too long; ne w or different kinds of information were needed, including better meas ures of health status and chronic conditions; and the ability to analy ze family-level data was limited. A shortened annual core survey will be supplemented with a rotating set of questions designed to provide m ore detail than the current NHIS with respect to health status, utiliz ation of health care services, and health promotion and disease preven tion. One adult from each family will be objectively selected to be th e respondent, and a significant portion of-the data will be collected by self-report For several of the most common chronic conditions, addi tional information will be routinely collected that will improve the c linical relevance and quality of data about those conditions. While th ere will be some costs associated with these changes, their net result will be to enhance the value of NHIS data in addressing current healt h policy issues.