Carol A. Edwards

Adjunct Research Programmer

Off Site Office

Education

B.A. in biology, Immaculate Heart College

Overview

Carol Edwards is an adjunct research programmer at the RAND Corporation.

Beginning with her work on the RAND Housing Allowance and Supply Experiment in 1975, Edwards has over forty years of experience with large-scale data management for research projects. She has contributed to many studies of consumer assessment of health care, health insurance, drug policy, criminal justice, civil justice, military manpower and retention, Air Force air mobility, labor and population issues, and education.

Ongoing experience has pertained to the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS), and includes primary programming support, sampling populations and subsequent analysis, and additional tasks related to the development of a case-mix based form of analysis. Further experience has included the use of CMS files of EDB data, documentation of a 5-year MFFS CAHPS project, writing a non-standard simulation-based sampling draw, writing a Data Safeguarding Plan for a 5-year Medicare CAHPS project, serving as that project’s Custodian of data files, and establishment and maintenance of security arrangements pertaining to that data. Her most recent activities have entailed the processing of HEDIS files and 58 million records of CMS Medicare data, as well as drawing samples for MA & PD 2011-2017 Medicare CAHPS Surveys.

Edwards is currently part of RAND's adjunct faculty, and her work is restricted to MCAHPS/MA & PD annual sampling and survey process.

Recent Projects

Medicare CAHPS

Languages

SAS

Publications

Journal Article
Gender Differences in Patient Experience Across Medicare Advantage Plans
We measured gender differences for six patient experience measures and how gender gaps differ across Medicare plans.
2020
Journal Article
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Enrollees Report Less Positive Experiences Than Their Medicare Advantage Counterparts
Medicare enrollees with standalone prescription coverage reported less positive experiences with their plans than their counterparts in Medicare Advantage plans.
Mar 14, 2016
Journal Article
Do Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Quality and Patient Experience Within Medicare Plans Generalize Across Measures and Racial/Ethnic Groups?
Health plan structural changes might reduce disparities across multiple measures.
Mar 17, 2015
Journal Article
How Much Do Additional Mailings and Telephone Calls Contribute to Response Rates in a Survey of Medicare Beneficiaries?
Surveys often spend substantial money on multiple mailings and telephone calls to ensure high overall response rates and adequate representation of hard-to-reach demographic subgroups.
Nov 26, 2014
Journal Article
Care Experiences of Managed Care Medicare Enrollees Near the End of Life
To compare reports about care experiences of individuals who died within 1 year of survey with reports of those who did not.
Feb 4, 2013
Journal Article
Does Naming the Focal Plan in a CAHPS Survey of Health Care Quality Affect Response Rates and Beneficiary Evaluations?
The use of a generic survey did not appear to affect either unit or item response rates, and did not appear to affect the ways in which beneficiaries evaluate various aspects of their care experiences.
2013
Journal Article
Understanding Nonresponse to the 2007 Medicare CAHPS Survey
We describe overall rates and analyze predictors of unit and item nonresponse for the 695,197 Medicare beneficiaries selected for the 2007 MCAHPS survey (335,249 unit respondents, 49% overall response rate).
Dec 1, 2011
Journal Article
Components of Care Vary in Importance for Overall Patient-Reported Experience By Type of Hospitalization
Because the importance of patient experience dimensions varies by type of hospitalization, quality improvement efforts should target those aspects of patient experience that matter most for each hospitalization type.
2009
Draft
Analysis of Case-Mix Strategies and Recommendations for Medicare Fee-for-Service CAHPS: Case-Mix Adjustment Report: 2004
For readers familiar with the 2000-2002 (Years 1-3) Case-Mix Reports, the authors briefly describe how this report differs from the previous year's report.
Dec 15, 2005
Draft
Analysis of Case-Mix Strategies and Recommendations for Medicare Fee-for-Service CAHPS: Case-mix Adjustment Report: 2003
For readers familiar with the 2000-2002 (Years 1-3) Case-Mix Reports, the authors briefly describe how this report differs from the previous year's report.
Dec 5, 2005
Journal Article
Patterns of Unit and Item Nonresponse in the CAHPS Hospital Survey
Nonresponse weights should not be used for between-hospital comparisons of the CAHPS Hospital Survey.
2005
Draft
Analysis of Case-Mix Strategies and Recommendations for 2000 Medicare Fee-for-Service CAHPS
In support of Medicare's Fee-for-Service Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS) project, the authors examine the impact of different case-mix strategies on attempts to strip ratings and reports of response bias.
2003
Draft
Final Task 9 Report: 2001 Analysis of Case-Mix Strategies and Recommendations for Medicare-Fee-for-Service CAHPS
In support of Medicare's Fee-for-Service Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS) project, the authors examine the impact of different case-mix strategies on attempts to strip ratings and reports of response bias.
2003
Draft
Measuring Patient-Centered Outcomes in the Pfizer-CCTG Trial of Azithromycin vs. Rifabutin vs. Both for the Prevention of HIV-Associated Mycobacterium avium: Instruments, Methods, Application, and Results
The authors assess health-status outcomes of prophylaxis for Mycobacterium avium bacteremia in patients with advanced HIV disease. This report summaries the developmental work performed for trials, the field experience, and associated findings.
1996
Draft
Prenatal and Obstetric Care in Los Angeles County, 1990-1992
Prenatal and Obstetric Care in Los Angeles County, 1990-1992
1995
Draft
Prenatal and Obstetric Care in Los Angeles County, 1990-1992
In Los Angeles County in the late 1980s, demand for public-sector prenatal and delivery services far exceeded supply. The authors evaluate the effectiveness of the Prenatal and OB Access Project, the intervention designed to address this problem.
1995
Report
HIE References: Volume 1: Codes Used in HIE Claims — Diagnoses, Symptoms, Procedures, Drugs, and Supplies
This Note provides definitions for the codes used in the claims line-item files and aggregated claims files, collectively known as the "claims files" of the Health Insurance Experiment (HIE).
1986
Report
Medical History Questionnaire Series: Volume 4: Codebooks for Infants at Enrollment and Exit
The codebooks in this volume describe the contents of six data files from the Health Insurance Experiment, a large social experiment conducted by The RAND Corporation from 1974 to 1982 in six sites across the United States.
1986
Report
Medical History Questionnaire Series: Volume 1: Codebooks for Adults at Enrollment and Exit, Form A
The codebooks in this volume describe the contents of three data files from the Health Insurance Experiment, a large social experiment conducted by The RAND Corporation from 1974 to 1982 in six sites across the United States.
1986
Report
Medical History Questionnaire Series: Volume 2: Codebooks for Adults at Enrollment and Exit, Form B
The codebooks in this volume describe the contents of three data files from the Health Insurance Experiment, a large social experiment conducted by The RAND Corporation from 1974 to 1982 in six sites across the United States.
1986
Report
Medical History Questionnaire Series: Volume 3: Codebooks for Children at Enrollment and Exit
The codebooks in this volume describe the contents of six data files from the Health Insurance Experiment, a large social experiment conducted by The RAND Corporation from 1974 to 1982 in six sites across the United States.
1986