Capstone Documents:

Secondary Data Resources for DHA Students

Secondary data and resources can be found at the local, state, regional, federal, and international levels. Walden University maintains information via the Research Center that includes access and information to specific secondary data resources as well as providing a tutorial on Secondary Data Analysis.

Examples of major secondary data sources can be found below at state/national and international levels. In addition, individual health departments, other state health agencies, nonprofit organizations, registries, hospitals or other healthcare facilities may collect data that could be searched for and possibly used as a secondary data resource.

Use of secondary data directly from healthcare organizations: The use of quantitative data from healthcare organizations is acceptable considering the following:

• Written consent from the organization must be obtained to use their data (Some hospitals may not grant permission)
• Data must be validated and come from an established department, such as Quality, Finance, Logistics, Operations (No primary data collection is to be conducted by the student).
• Ensure data is relevant to health administration, operations, management and align with at least one of the ACHE professional domains.

Examples of data include:

• HR staffing levels/productivity/operational costs
•  Performance indicators typically found on a management dashboard ssuch as cost per case, readmissions, patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction, infection rates, complication rates, length of stay.  
• Impact of a policy, regulation, practice on quality of care, operational costs, productivity.
• Insurance reimbursements and coding
• Medical Informatics/patient documentation/Electronic Medical Records impact on various variables such as throughput.
• Length of stay
• Infection control programs
• Logistics and Materials Management (Supply Chain Management) products costs vs operational efficiency
• Healthcare Technology Management programs and relationship with improving patient outcomes.

• National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS):  A standardized survey conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from a national sample of visits to hospital EDs, collecting data about utilization and provision of ambulatory care services (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2016). National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) 2015 dataset. [dataset file]. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Datasets/NHAMCS