Toward a Health Statistics System for the 21st Century

The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) convened a workshop on November 4-5, 1999, to identify new directions for health statistics and the implications for health data of changes in the health arena faced by DHHS; state and local health departments; the consumers, developers, and providers of health care products and services; and other health policy makers. Changes in our understanding of health, in health care (managed care, Medicaid, Medicare), in welfare reform, in federal-state relations, in the availability of administrative data, in advanced genetic data, in information technology, in confidentiality issues, and in data integration are examples of recent developments that may play a significant role for DHHS in making future policy decisions.