Agreement between Internet-Based Self- and Proxy-Reported Health Care Resource Utilization and Administrative Health Care Claims

Abstract Objectives Although Internet-based surveys are becoming more common, little is known about agreement between administrative claims data and Internet-based survey self- and proxy-reported health care resource utilization (HCRU) data. This analysis evaluated the level of agreement between self- and proxy-reported HCRU data, as recorded through an Internet-based survey, and administrative claims–based HCRU data. Methods The Child and Household Influenza-Illness and Employee Function study collected self- and proxy-reported HCRU data monthly between November 2007 and May 2008. Data included the occurrence and number of visits to hospitals, emergency departments, urgent care centers, and outpatient offices for a respondent's and his or her household members' care. Administrative claims data from the MarketScan® Databases were assessed during the same time and evaluated relative to survey-based metrics. Only data for individuals with employer-sponsored health care coverage linkable to claims were included. The Kappa ( κ ) statistic was used to evaluate visit concordance, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was used to describe frequency consistency. Results Agreement for presence of a health care visit and the number of visits were similar for self- and proxy-reported HCRU data. There was moderate to substantial agreement related to health care visit occurrence between survey-based and claims-based HCRU data for inpatient, emergency department, and office visits ( κ: 0.47–0.77). There was less agreement on health care visit frequencies, with intraclass correlation coefficient values ranging from 0.14 to 0.71. Conclusions This study's agreement values suggest that Internet-based surveys are an effective method to collect self- and proxy-reported HCRU data. These results should increase confidence in the use of the Internet for evaluating disease burden.