This public use data file is one in a series of event-level public use data files drawn from the 1997 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS, SPSS, and STATA programming statements and in SAS transport format, the Medical Provider Visits File provides detailed information on office-based medical provider visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of office-based medical provider utilization and expenditures for calendar year 1997. Each record represents one household-reported office-based medical provider visit reported during the 1997 portion of round 3, and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 1, as well as rounds 1, 2 and the 1997 portion of round 3 for Panel 2 of the survey.
The Office-Based Provider Public Use Data File consists of two event-level data files. File 1 contains characteristics associated with the office-based visit, such as, date of the visit, time spent with the provider, types of treatment and services received, types of medicine prescribed, condition codes, expenditures, source of payment associated with the visit and imputed expenditure variables. File 2 contains unimputed expenditure variables and is intended for analysts who want to perform their own imputations to handle missing data.
For more information, see MEPS HC-029: 1997 MEPS HC Survey Data.