Beginning in February 2005, members of the HLC research team recruited a sample of 60 hospitals using two methods for hospital selection. A purposive approach to sampling was taken by combining two sampling methods: a "hand-selected" judgment sample and a demographically-driven stratified sample.
Judgment Sample (30 hospitals)
- These hospitals were self-nominated for study participation or nominated by a member of the HLC staff and advisors or Technical Advisory Panel, who are experts on culturally and linguistically appropriate care and had first-hand knowledge of specific hospital efforts.
Stratified Sample (30 hospitals)
- These hospitals were selected using 1990 and 2000 US Census and American Hospital Association data. Hospitals within counties likely to be serving diverse patients were randomly identified and recruited by phone for study participation.
Thirty-two states are represented in the entire hospital sample. Each hospital was guaranteed total anonymity, and study hospitals are not identified so that data can be interpreted without bias for any particular hospital.
Data Collection
All participating hospitals were asked to complete a 26 question Pre-Visit Questionnaire and host a one-day site visit conducted by a trained HLC researcher and a note-taker. Site visits were conducted between September 2005 and March 2006, and each site visit consisted of a combination of administrative and clinical interviews.
Find out more about the HLC research projects using data from these 60 hospitals.