PHAST Measures version 1.2 -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Important information for all users of these measures

• Measures as defined in this document are intended for prospective data acquisition efforts. This document does not supplement the codebook for the original MPROVE Study dataset.
• "Local Health Department" is abbreviated as "LHD" in the measure definitions.
• The label "community" in parentheses after the measure name indicates a community-level measure that is intended to capture all services and activities performed in the community, regardless of which entity or entities perform the action. The label "agency" in parentheses after the measure name indicates an agency-level measure that is intended to capture the services/activities performed directly by the local health department in the community. The geographical boundaries of the community should be the same as the local health department's jurisdiction.

General questions related to all PHAST Measures

Q1: Are there any differences in how state agencies and LHDs report data?

A1: States may be able to provide data about local activities and services, in which case LHDs would not need to enter these data. States may submit data in formats other than the data capture tool, such as Excel sheets or text data files.

Q2: What is the time commitment for adopting the Measures?

A2: First, agencies need to compare PHAST Measures with current data collection. Second, agencies will need to provide data either as data files or by using the data capture tool, or a combination of both. The time necessary to complete both tasks varies depending on current data systems and measures being collected.

Q3: What if my agency cannot share data that contains small numbers?

A3: We want to work with whatever data you can provide. Small numbers of cases for sensitive information, such as TB or STI cases, may be able to be aggregated to protect confidentiality, and if not they will be suppressed in any publicly available datasets. PHAST focuses on county, or jurisdiction, level data. We do not work with individual-level data.

Q4: When should Measures be reported to PHAST?

A4: Measures for a given 12-month period can be reported to PHAST at any time. Previous years of data that align with the measures specifications can also be reported.

Q5: What if we do not have data for one or more of the MPROVE measures?

A5: Code as "missing" if the LHDs perform the activity ("agency" measures) or the service is offered in the community ("community" measures) but the data are unavailable. Code as "not applicable" if the activities or services are not performed or offered.

 

Specific questions related to individual measures

Communicable Disease Control Domain

Immunization Bundle

M152

Q1: If we need to generate data based on birthdates, how should we do that?

A1: The target population is children between 19 and 35 months of age. This includes children who are just one day shy of their third birthday ("through" 35 months). Using the example of 1/1/2015 as the target date, this would mean we are requesting data for children born between 1/1/2012 and 6/1/2013. Adjust the birthdate range accordingly for different state target dates. See the specifications in the technical documentation regarding how the target date should be reported.

Q2: How do we report immunization completeness for age 19 to 35 months? Should we report the rates for everyone in our registry when they are 19-35 months, or should we report the rates for all children age 19-35 months at a point in time?

A2: Report the immunization rates for all 19-35 months at a point in time. Please choose a point in time (for example, by December 31, 2016) and report the immunization completeness rates for all children age 19-35 months at that date.

Q3: How is a child classified who is incompletely immunized (e.g. MMR recommendation is 2 doses by age 18 months -- how do they classify a child of 19 to 35 months of age who has had only one)?

A3: These measures follow the ACIP guidelines, available at the CDC website (see table 3 bottom of page). For example, if a child has had only one dose of MMR, that child is considered vaccinated for this measure.

Q4: Does “childhood immunization completeness” include children not immunized by a public health agency; in other words, does it include immunizations given by private providers?

A4:  The childhood immunization completeness measure is for all childhood immunizations regardless of immunization provider. Data from state systems that only track children immunized by LHDs will not be considered complete for this measure.

M154

Q1: Is this the number of immunizations each child received, or the number of children immunized?

A1: Number of immunizations, not number of children immunized.

Q2: Does this measure refer to immunizations or doses?

A2: We aren't making a distinction between immunizations and doses. Specifically, this measure is for total number of vaccinations administered, not number of completed immunization series.

Q3: Should I report the number of immunizations administered by only the LHD, or should I also include immunizations administered by other public, community organizations as well?

A3: Please report the number of immunizations administered by only the LHD, not including any administered by other public, community organizations.

M201

Q1: How is someone classified who is incompletely immunized?

A1: These measures follow the ACIP guidelines, available at the CDC website (see table 3 bottom of page). For example, if a person has had only one dose of MMR, that person is considered vaccinated for this measure.

Q2: Why is pertussis not included? Should we think about asking for that as well?

A2: There is no definitive reason for why pertussis is not included. We will consider including pertussis for the 2.0 version of the MPROVE measures.

Q3: What is the definition of "confirmed" cases?

A3: See the Appendix, available at https://phastdata.org/measures for definitions by disease.

 

Enteric Disease Bundle

M162

Q1: What does "investigation" mean? Is it all cases they attempted to reach, or only those they actually reached?

A1: We defer to how an investigation is defined by the state. The default definition in the absence of state guidance is as follows: if an investigation has been initiated, then it should be included for this measure.

Q2: The question is about "conducted": is this broadly defined as in the LHD either led or participated in the investigation, or are we defining conducted as "led" the investigation?

A2: The original definition of this measure doesn’t specify that the LHD must lead the investigation: "Number of investigations of reported foodborne/enteric disease cases conducted by LHD during the past 12 months. [Measure #167 will be used as denominator to construct investigation rate measure]."

Any LHD involvement in the investigation within the jurisdiction should be included for this measure. This is a measure of volume of work performed by the LHD — so it should be included even if the LHD is not leading the investigation. If there is detail on a multi-jurisdiction investigation, any information regarding who is leading the investigation should be included in the comment field.

M164

Q: What diseases should we be using for M164? Is it the same set that are listed in M167?

A: Include all enteric diseases that are investigated, regardless of whether they are listed in M167.

M165

Q1: What is the difference between "reported" and "confirmed" cases?

A1: See the Appendix, available at https://phastdata.org/measures for definitions by disease. Suspected or probable cases are considered "reported" for this measure.

M167

Q1: What is the difference between "reported" and "confirmed" cases?

A1: See the Appendix, available at https://phastdata.org/measures for definitions by disease. Suspected or probable cases are considered "reported" for this measure.

 

Sexually Transmitted Infections Bundle

M204

Q: There are only a few LHDs in my states with designated Disease Intervention Specialists. What about LHDs that don't have people with this job title?

A: This is a measure of capacity of the agency to protect health and prevent disease spread. Please estimate total FTE staffing level for providing any components of STI case management and control services, regardless of job title. If the components are split between local and state agencies, please describe the split in the comments field.

 

Tuberculosis Control Bundle

Q: If some data such as contact treatment completion are not available for current years (e.g., most recent is 2012), should we report all TB for that year, or should we report on whatever is most current?

A: Ideally data will be available for the current year (2014) for all measures. If it is not a burden to collect different years of data for different measures, the preference is for the most recent available data for each measure. If it is a burden, then collect data for TB measures for the most recent year that all data are available.

M195, M196x, M193

Q: Are the Tuberculosis questions in regard to active or latent?

A: Where "latent" is not specified, measures refer to active TB. For M193 there is no DOT for latent TB. For M195 we originally proposed adding "active" but this conflicted with definitions found in the National TB Program Objectives and Performance Target for 2015, which we were using as a standardized reference.

Environmental Health Protection Domain

Food Protection Bundle

M236a, M236b

Q: Is this measure for permanent food establishments or permanent and temporary?

A: It includes both permanent and temporary retail food establishments. It does not include institutional food inspections or programs for aging, summer meals, etc.