Design and operation of the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, 2001.

Objectives: This report presents the development, plan, and operation of the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN), a module of the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This survey was designed to produce national and State-specific prevalence estimates of CSHCN, describe the types of services that they need and use, and assess aspects of the system of care for CSHCN. This study included two additional modules to provide health care coverage estimates for all children and to collect data on the reasons that low-income uninsured children lack health care coverage. Primary funding for this survey was provided by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration.

Methods: A random-digit-dial sample of households with children under 18 years of age was selected from each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Depending on the health care needs of the children in each household, a detailed interview was conducted for one randomly selected child with special needs and a brief health insurance interview was conducted for one randomly selected child without special needs. The respondent was the parent or guardian who knew the most about the child's health and health care.

Results: A total of 196,888 household screening interviews were completed from October 2000 to April 2002. This resulted in 38,866 completed special-needs interviews and 176,296 completed health insurance interviews for children without special needs. The weighted overall response rate for special-needs interviews was 61.0%.