RANDS Webinar Today, Focuses on New Pandemic-era Data

Over one-third of Americans report having a health care provider that offers telemedicine options, either via phone or video appointments. That is just one of the new estimates CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) now has on a selected number of key issues during the pandemic, including loss of work due to illness with COVID-19 and reduced access to specific types of health care due to the pandemic.

The data come from the Research and Development Survey (RANDS), a platform designed for conducting survey question evaluation and statistical research.  RANDS estimates were generated using an experimental approach that differs from the survey design approaches generally used by NCHS, including possible biases from different response patterns and increased variability from lower sample sizes. Use of the RANDS platform allowed NCHS to produce more timely data than would have been possible using traditional data collection methods.

The first of two rounds of RANDS during COVID-19 data collection occurred between June 9, 2020 and July 6, 2020 and are presented on the web site at the following link:  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands.htm.

Also, on Wednesday, August 26, 2020, NCHS will be hosting a webinar on RANDS from 2:00-3:00 ET.  To learn more or to register please visit the following link:  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/rands/rands-covid19-webinar.htm.