This project will test the technical and financial feasibility of making a large volume of state and national time-series health sector analysis data now available to the Government accessible to the private organizations and to local and state governments in a compact and readily used format. The design for the U.S. Health Data System will elaborate and extend that of the Health Resources and Service Administration's State/National ACCESS System for Health Professions Analysis, an information base and report generating system developed by Levine Associates and La Jolla Management Corporation. It will also make those adaptations in the existing system which are needed to ensure data and software integrity and controlled user access in a commercial environment. The existing health professions oriented data base will be extended to include additional statistics on health status and utilization, a strong hospitals and nursing home component, measures of mental health and related types of care and facilities, additional indicators of the economic environment and other types of variables as suggested by the work in Phase I. The database will be available to users in up to four formats. 1) interactive, user-friendly report specification drawing on any combination of database elements; 2) a databook containing selected information from the System's files; 2) database computer tapes; and 4) staff generated custom reports based on mail-ordered requests for users. The Phase I feasibility assessment will be carried out in three steps: 1) refinement of the preliminary concept of how the System should be structured; 2) development of technically feasible and apparently cost-effective system plan based on the concepts previously developed; 3) assessment of likely user acceptance and financial feasibility. If the results indicate that a financially viable and rich health sector statistics reporting system can be developed, a Phase II application will be submitted following completion of this phase of the project. Throughout the methodology design there is a strong emphasis on assessing probable user preferences and on comparing those which relate to the database design to the availability of additional information from Federal Government sources.
