The National Reporting System for Family Planning Services--a new look
Dryfoos, J.G.
Family Planning Perspectives 12(4): 193-201
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0014-7354 PMID: 7439342 DOI: 10.2307/2134784Document Number: 501526
The National Reporting System for Family Planning Services (NRSFPS) began as a 100% reporting system but was converted to a sample survey in mid-1977 in an economy move. Data from the NRSFPS are used for the annual report to Congress on family planning services required under Title X legislation. Such data were used at the clinic, agency, county, state, regional and national levels for program evaluation and planning, and several states developed intermediate data systems which collected statistics from agencies and submitted them to the NRSFPS contractor. As a result of the 1977 changes in design and operation of the NRSFPS, the responsibility for data collection has been decentralized and uniformity and completeness of coverage are no longer obtained by the intermediate systems. The combined costs of the new systems probably exceed that for the old system with its 100% coverage. A reporting system is needed that will summarize state and national visit totals, yield routine reports at the local level and special reports of local data that may be aggregated at higher levels. A proposal to reconstitute the NRSFPS to rely on the intermediate automated data systems already in place is advanced, and the possible advantages, disadvantages, and organization of such a system are discussed.