The NHIS is a household survey that serves as the primary source of information on the health of the U.S., non-institutionalized, civilian population. Though it has undergone various changes since its inception in 1957, the NHIS has remained largely unchanged since 1997 and comprises the Basic Core Questionnaire (Family, Sample Adult and Sample Child surveys) as well as topic-focused supplements. The Basic Core collects information on household composition and sociodemographic characteristics, tracking information, information for matches to administrative data bases, and basic indicators of health status, activity limitations, injuries, health insurance coverage, and access to and utilization of health care services. Supplement topics are often selected to coincide with monitoring areas of public health interest and to help in the monitoring of national health goals (e.g., Healthy People 2010).

For instance, in 2007 and 2012, the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) supplement of the NHIS was conducted to collect information about non-conventional health services, products, and practices commonly used in the United States among a randomly selected sample of children 4-17 years. The 2012 Child CAM Supplement collected information on use of CAM modalities, insurance coverage and out-of-pocket cost for visits to CAM providers, classes or trainings, reasons for and benefits of CAM use, conventional medical care use for children who used CAM therapies for specific conditions, disclosure of CAM use to health care providers, and sources of information about CAM. The most current round of data collection in 2016, supplements include the following topics: (1) balance, (2) diabetes, (3) vision, (4) chronic pain, (5) blood donation, (6) Crohn’s Disease/Ulcerative Colitis, (7) hepatitis, (8) expanded content on health care access and utilization, (9) food security, (10) child mental health (brief strengths and difficulties questionnaire), (11) immunization, (12) heat disease and stroke prevention, (13) tobacco and e-cigarette use, (14) internet and email usage, and (15) disability. A complete record of previous supplements by year is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/NHIS_Supplements_and_Sponsors.pdf.

Additionally, in 2014, NCHS conducted the NHIS-NHPI. The NHIS-NHPI was a survey in which about 3,000 households containing one or more NHPI residents were surveyed by NHIS field staff using the 2014 NHIS instrument. The survey was an unprecedented opportunity to collect rich and accurate information from a large NHPI sample about the health of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in all 50 states. The NHIS-NHPI was patterned after the NHIS. The NHIS is the nation’s largest in-person household health survey and is a primary tool for monitoring the health of the nation. The survey collects information on health status and conditions, disability, access to and use of health services, health insurance coverage, immunizations, risk factors, and health-related behaviors.