How Accurate are Self-Reports? Analysis of Self-Reported Health Care Utilization and Absence When Compared With Administrative Data

TLDR

The study aims to assess how accurately self‑reported health care use and absenteeism match administrative claims and HR records. The authors compared self‑reported utilization and absenteeism with administrative data using percent agreement, Pearson correlations, and multivariate logistic regression to evaluate concordance and participant characteristics. Results show higher concordance for monthly versus yearly metrics, with agreement ranging 30–99% and lowest for annual doctor visits; accuracy was higher among younger, male, better‑educated, and healthier participants, indicating self‑reports can serve as proxies when administrative data are lacking, especially for short recall periods.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the accuracy of self-reported health care utilization and absence reported on health risk assessments against administrative claims and human resource records. Methods: Self-reported values of health care utilization and absenteeism were analyzed for concordance to administrative claims values. Percent agreement, Pearson’s correlations, and multivariate logistic regression models examined the level of agreement and characteristics of participants with concordance. Results: Self-report and administrative data showed greater concordance for monthly compared with yearly health care utilization metrics. Percent agreement ranged from 30% to 99% with annual doctor visits having the lowest percent agreement. Younger people, males, those with higher education, and healthier individuals more accurately reported their health care utilization and absenteeism. Conclusions: Self-reported health care utilization and absenteeism may be used as a proxy when medical claims and administrative data are unavailable, particularly for shorter recall periods.