This guide provides practical and useful guidance for Mission MEL staff; DRG technical teams; CORs/AORs; and Implementing Partners on how to track activity performance and gauge hard-to-measure DRG indicators using alternative data sources to surveys. It is not the intent of this guide to suggest that any of these alternative data sources should be used in the place of a well-designed, representative survey. Rather, the guide is intended to provide an overview of alternative data sources that may work in situations where it is already determined that survey measurement is infeasible or where it is desirable to consider the potential of existing data sources before committing to burdensome primary data collection.
