Change Question, Topic or Survey
You can update the state/region for this query by selecting a new state/region below.
Nationwide All States All Regions Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Virgin Islands HRSA Region I HRSA Region II HRSA Region III HRSA Region IV HRSA Region V HRSA Region VI HRSA Region VII HRSA Region VIII HRSA Region IX HRSA Region X
Survey Items: Survey instrument item number for children 0-5 years: D1; for children 6-11 years: D1; for children 12-17 years: D1 Variable in public use data file: K4Q04_R
Denominator: Children age 0-17 years
Numerator: Have a personal doctor or nurse; Do not have a personal doctor or nurse
Revisions and Changes: The survey item for this measure has not changed since 2016.
Additional Notes: This measure is one of the five components of the composite Medical Home measure and was derived directly from a single item (K4Q04_R). Children who do not have a personal doctor or nurse cannot qualify as having a Medical Home regardless of their status on the other four components. A child's "personal doctor or nurse" could be one or more health care professionals who knows the child well and is familiar with the child's health history. A “health care professional” is defined as a general doctor, pediatrician, specialist doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant. For more information on the Title V MCH Block Grant measures, review this document.
Treatment of Unknown Values: Missing values may be due to non-response (i.e. a skipped item) or a “don’t know” response. The way these items are handled can vary by measure. For NPMs and NOMs, having missing values for all items in an indicator will lead to the case being given a missing value on the overall measure. For some other measures, if there is a missing value on any of the items, the case will be set to missing. How missing values are handled is documented in the "Additional notes" field above when required. Missing values are not included in the denominator when calculating prevalence estimates and weighted population counts displayed in the Interactive Data Query results table. In the majority of cases, the proportion of missing values is less than 5%. Exceptions are noted in the form of a Data Alert at the bottom of a results table. The exclusion of these values does not change the prevalence estimates (%) and only marginally affects the weighted population counts (Pop. Est.). To learn about the impact of the missing values on the population count estimates, click here.
History and Development: Overview of the Title V Block Grant The Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant Program is a federal-state partnership to improve the health and well-being of mothers, children--including children with special health care needs--and their families in all 59 states and jurisdictions. The Title V MCH Services Block Grant Performance Measure Framework enables states to demonstrate the impacts of Title V within a state. The performance measurement system utilizes national data sources, including the NSCH, to track the ultimate outcomes of the program -- National Outcome Measures (NOMs) – and the key metrics of health behavior or health care access and quality -- National Performance Measures (NPMs) -- that influence NOMs. In 2024, the Title V NPMs and NOMs were updated. Some measures have new denominators (subsets of children), and some new measures have been added. Some measures are no longer NPMs and NOMs and are now classified as Standardized Measures. In 2024, MCHB expanded the definition of children with special health care needs (CSHCN). In addition to the CSHCN Screener, the denominator now includes children with at least one health condition and one functional difficulty asked in the NSCH. More information about the Title V MCH Services Block Grant and performance measurement system can be obtained at the MCHB website. Learn more about the NPM and NOM content changes at the MCHB website and DRC website. About the NSCH The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), funded and directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is designed to provide annual national- and state-level information on the health and well-being of children ages 0-17 years in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau administers the survey, oversees the sampling, and produces a final dataset. HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) develops survey content in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and a Technical Expert Panel. The Technical Expert Panel consists of experts in survey methodology and children’s health, federal and state stakeholders, clinicians and researchers. In 2016, the NSCH underwent a significant redesign which combined content from both the NSCH and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). Combining or comparing data from before and after the redesign is not recommended. Further information on that redesign can be found in “The Design and Implementation of the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health”. The NSCH is conducted as a household survey, and one child per household is selected to be the subject for the detailed, age-specific questionnaire. The respondent to this questionnaire is a parent or guardian who is living in the home and has knowledge of the sampled child. Survey participants complete either web-based or self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Data from the NSCH is used for scientific research, federal policy and program development, and state-level planning and performance reporting. Information is collected on factors related to the health and well-being of children, including access to and utilization of health care, receipt of care in a medical home, systems of care for CSHCN, family interactions, parental health, school and after-school experiences, and neighborhood characteristics. More information about the survey can be found in the “About the National Survey of Children's Health” section of this website and HRSA’s MCHB website.
Overview of the Title V Block Grant
The Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant Program is a federal-state partnership to improve the health and well-being of mothers, children--including children with special health care needs--and their families in all 59 states and jurisdictions. The Title V MCH Services Block Grant Performance Measure Framework enables states to demonstrate the impacts of Title V within a state. The performance measurement system utilizes national data sources, including the NSCH, to track the ultimate outcomes of the program -- National Outcome Measures (NOMs) – and the key metrics of health behavior or health care access and quality -- National Performance Measures (NPMs) -- that influence NOMs. In 2024, the Title V NPMs and NOMs were updated. Some measures have new denominators (subsets of children), and some new measures have been added. Some measures are no longer NPMs and NOMs and are now classified as Standardized Measures. In 2024, MCHB expanded the definition of children with special health care needs (CSHCN). In addition to the CSHCN Screener, the denominator now includes children with at least one health condition and one functional difficulty asked in the NSCH.
More information about the Title V MCH Services Block Grant and performance measurement system can be obtained at the MCHB website. Learn more about the NPM and NOM content changes at the MCHB website and DRC website.
About the NSCH
The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), funded and directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is designed to provide annual national- and state-level information on the health and well-being of children ages 0-17 years in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau administers the survey, oversees the sampling, and produces a final dataset. HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) develops survey content in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and a Technical Expert Panel. The Technical Expert Panel consists of experts in survey methodology and children’s health, federal and state stakeholders, clinicians and researchers. In 2016, the NSCH underwent a significant redesign which combined content from both the NSCH and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). Combining or comparing data from before and after the redesign is not recommended. Further information on that redesign can be found in “The Design and Implementation of the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health”.
The NSCH is conducted as a household survey, and one child per household is selected to be the subject for the detailed, age-specific questionnaire. The respondent to this questionnaire is a parent or guardian who is living in the home and has knowledge of the sampled child. Survey participants complete either web-based or self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Data from the NSCH is used for scientific research, federal policy and program development, and state-level planning and performance reporting. Information is collected on factors related to the health and well-being of children, including access to and utilization of health care, receipt of care in a medical home, systems of care for CSHCN, family interactions, parental health, school and after-school experiences, and neighborhood characteristics.
More information about the survey can be found in the “About the National Survey of Children's Health” section of this website and HRSA’s MCHB website.
Download & Print
C.I. = 95% Confidence Interval. Percentages and population estimates (Pop.Est.) are weighted to represent child population in US.
Change question, topic or survey
Data Source: National Survey of Children’s Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. https://mchb.hrsa.gov/data/national-surveys
Citation: Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. 2023-2024 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) data query. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Retrieved [mm/dd/yy] from [www.childhealthdata.org].