Volume 56 | Number 2 | April 2021

Abstract List

Kristin A. Maurer MPH, Laura Blue PhD, Sean Orzol M.P.H., Ph.D., Nikkilyn Morrison Hensleigh MA, Deborah Peikes PhD


Objective

To evaluate the comparability of commercially available practice site data from SK&A with survey data to understand the implications of using SK&A data for health services research.


Data sources

Responses to the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) Practice Survey and SK&A data.


Study design

Comparison of CPC + Practice Survey responses to SK&A information for 2698 primary care practice sites.


Data collection

CPC + Practice Survey data collected through a web‐only survey from April through September 2017, and SK&A data purchased in November 2016.


Principal findings

Information was similar across data sources, although some discrepancies were common. For example, 56% of practice sites had differences in the reported number of practitioners, and larger sites tended to have larger differences. Among practice sites with 1 practitioner in the survey, only 1.3% had a difference of 3 or more practitioners between the data sources, whereas 63% of practice sites with 11 or more practitioners had a difference of 3 or more practitioners.


Conclusions

Discrepancies between data sources could reflect differences of interpretation when defining practice site characteristics, changes over time in those characteristics, or data errors in either SK&A or the survey. Researchers using SK&A data should consider possible ramifications for their studies.