title: Evaluating New York City's abortion reporting system: insights for public health data collection systems.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New York City (NYC) mandates reporting of all abortion procedures. These reports enable tracking of abortion incidence and underpin programs, policy, and research. Since January 2011, the majority of abortion facilities must report electronically.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We conducted an evaluation of NYC's abortion reporting system and its transition to electronic reporting. We summarize the evaluation methodology and results and draw lessons relevant to other vital statistics and public health reporting systems.
  
  
  METHODS
  The evaluation followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. We interviewed key stakeholders and conducted a data provider survey. In addition, we compared the system's abortion counts with external estimates and calculated the proportion of missing and invalid values for each variable on the report form. Finally, we assessed the process for changing the report form and estimated system costs.
  
  
  METHODS
  NYC Health Department's Bureau of Vital Statistics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Usefulness, simplicity, flexibility, data quality, acceptability, sensitivity, timeliness, and stability of the abortion reporting system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-five percent of abortion data providers considered abortion reporting important; 52% requested training regarding the report form. Thirty percent reported problems with electronic biometric fingerprint certification, and 18% reported problems with the electronic system's stability. Estimated system sensitivity was 88%. Of 17 variables, education and ancestry had more than 5% missing values in 2010. Changing the electronic reporting module was costly and time-consuming. System operating costs were estimated at $80 136 to $89 057 annually.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The NYC abortion reporting system is sensitive and provides high-quality data, but opportunities for improvement include facilitating biometric certification, increasing electronic platform stability, and conducting ongoing outreach and training for data providers. This evaluation will help data users determine the degree of confidence that should be placed on abortion data. In addition, the evaluation results are applicable to other vital statistics reporting and surveillance systems.
authors.affiliation: Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia (Dr Toprani); and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York (Drs Toprani, Madsen, Das, Greene, and Begier and Ms Gambatese).
authors.forename: Amita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toprani
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambatese
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Begier
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001331:Automation; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D009519:New York City; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011634:Public Health