We thank Drs. Esposito and Taylor for their insightful commentary, much of which they had included in their evaluation of the Center for Health Care Strategies' Medic-aid Value Program of which this study was a part. We acknowledge that the study has limitations, but disagree with their conclusion that the data analysis is inadequate to determine whether an interview or claims-based methodology is preferable. Our data analysis produced positive findings that the 2 approaches have different degrees of reliability for predicting case management placement, emergency department use, and hospitalization. Furthermore, the effects are additive: it is not a matter of choosing one or the other method, but of combining the complementary aspects of both that gives the best prediction of future outcomes. Finally, operational considerations also contribute to the preference for one method over the other, in so far as the claims-based predictive modeling method gives more timely, complete, and reliable information than the health interview method.
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