MEPS Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
Medical Care Provider Participants’ Corner
Medical
Care Provider FAQs
1. Why should medical care providers participate?
2. How are medical care providers chosen for the MEPS Medical
Provider Component?
3. Why didn’t you get all of the information needed from the
patient? Why collect information from the medical care providers?
4. How are medical care providers contacted?
5. How long will it take to provide the needed information?
6. Will the medical care providers be compensated for providing
this information?
7. Will a medical care provider be contacted more than once?
8. What specific information is needed from medical care
providers?
1. Why should medical care providers participate?
Your participation will contribute to an important effort to
develop an accurate and comprehensive picture of health care
expenditures in the United States. The availability and cost of
health care is an issue of major concern to individuals and
families, to employers, to health care providers, and to public and
private policy-makers across the country. For private planning as
well as for public policy decisions, we all benefit from having
accurate information available to inform our deliberations. By
signing the MEPS Authorization Form, participants have asked you to
share their data with the study.
2. How are medical care providers chosen for the MEPS Medical
Provider Component?
Medical care providers are identified by participants in the MEPS
Household Component as sources from which they received health care.
These household participants have signed HIPAA-compliant forms
authorizing and requesting each of their medical care providers to
release the information sought by the study. Practitioners who
provide services within the hospital but bill separately from the
hospital are identified by the participating hospitals.
3. Why didn’t you get all of the information needed from the
patient? Why collect information from the medical care providers?
It is often difficult for people to answer questions about the
specific health care services they receive and about the cost of
those services, which are often paid in full or in part by third
party sources. We contact medical care providers to give us
information to supplement and verify the information provided by
household participants.
4. How are medical care providers contacted?
Most medical care providers are contacted by telephone, after which
a clerk in the respondent’s doctor’s office or hospital provides the
information requested.
5. How long will it take to provide the needed information?
It usually takes between 5 and 10 minutes per patient. The time
it takes generally depends on how many medical events are asked
about and the accessibility of the medical provider’s records.
6. Will the medical care providers be compensated for providing
this information?
Although we do not routinely provide compensation to
participants, we will reimburse reasonable charges for staff time
spent responding to our request and/or for copying and mailing
costs.
7. Will a medical care provider be contacted more than once?
It is possible that a medical care provider will be contacted
more than once to clarify a response and/or to ask about other
patients. Because MEPS is a continuous on-going survey, a provider
may also be contacted again in future years if it is identified as a
source of medical care by other MEPS household participants.
8. What specific information is needed from medical care
providers?
For each patient, we need information about services provided
during a specific calendar year. For each event of service, we need:
- the date of service
- diagnoses (ICD-9 or DSM 4 codes)
- services provided (CPT-4, DRG, or other relevant codes)
- full established charge
- method of reimbursement (fee-for-service or capitated)
- sources that paid for the service
- amount paid by each source
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