Recall bias and reduction measures: an example in primary health care service utilization

Abstract

There are many primary care studies in which the research question aims to discern the frequency of health care service utilization, or the frequency of visits to a clinical provider. Some examples include evaluating comparative use of services (1), building typologies based on utilization patterns (2) and health economic evaluations (3). Often, data on the use of health services are collected retrospectively from large administrative databases, patient medical records, self-reported health care service utilization or a combination of these strategies (4). Utilization data sourced from administrative databases and patient medical records is often considered the gold standard given that data is collected at the time of encounter with the health care system. However, in some situations, use of administrative data can be time consuming, costly, and labour intensive(4) and is not without concerns regarding quality and comprehensiveness (5). For example, use of services in the private sector may not be reflected in primarily ‘public’ data sources,(6) and services rendered by health care professionals under capitation payments may not be reflected as individual visits. When such challenges arise, self-reported data can offer a feasible and comprehensive alternative.

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