title: The use of organizational data for the evaluation of mass prevention programs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The effectiveness of health promotion campaigns is hard to measure due to complex outcome and external factors. This study presents a method to evaluate a mass women's health promotion campaign held in a large health maintenance organization (HMO) in Israel.
  
  
  METHODS
  This population-based study used administrative and medical databases to examine whether postal invitation to 120,231 HMO-female members increased adherence with certain preventive medicine recommendations (LDL-C, bone density test, and mammography breast cancer screening). A comparison was made using three different reference data: pre- and post-campaign periods (1998-2003), HMO-male members who were not targeted by the campaign, and rates of urine tests, which were also not targeted by the campaign.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 2 months following the campaign, adherence with mammography (3.8%) and LDL-C (12.5%) reached their maximum rates in 5 years. Adherence with bone density test increased from 2.3% in 2000 to 2.8% in the campaign period. No similar trends were observed for urine or LDL-C tests among men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of multiple reference groups through the analysis of administrative and medical databases supports the association between the campaign and improved adherence with screening tests. A similar methodology may be adopted for the analysis of mass health promotion campaigns in large HMOs.
authors.affiliation: Maccabi Healthcare Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Heymann
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tarashansky
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kokia
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chodick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006293:Health Promotion; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D008875:Middle Aged; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*