AHRQ Data Center Application for Access to Restricted MEPS Data

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Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Institutional Affiliation: ________________________________________________________

Project Title: ________________________________________________________________

Phone Number: _________________________________________________________________

E-mail Address: _____________________________________________________________

Mailing Address: _____________________________________________________________

Are you a U.S. citizen?

_____ Yes

_____ No

Is your project related to a dissertation or other degree requirement?
_________________

List the source(s) of funding (if any) for the project.

___________________________________________________________________________

10)

I have read the information on the AHRQ Data Center provided on the MEPS Web site and understand that microdata used in the analysis will not be released, and that release of summary data (tables, parameter estimates) is dependent on a confidentiality review.

_____ Yes

_____ No

11)

What is your planned avenue for data access?

_____ In-person data access at the AHRQ Data Center in Rockville, MD

_____ In-person data access at a Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC).

_____ 90-day virtual data access through the MEPS-AWS SecureCloud. I understand that this choice is subject to more restrictive limitations to data need requirements and geographic data access is restricted to encrypted State FIPS codes and MSA indicators.

12)

List below the MEPS data file(s) and years to which you are requesting access.

_____ MEPS PUFs (Please specify file name and years, e.g., 2018-2020 MEPS Full-Year Consolidated Public Use Files):

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

_____ MEPS-NHIS Link Files (Please specify years. Note that MEPS-NHIS Link Files are not available on AWS):

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

13)

Indicate below which MEPS-HC variables that are not available for public use to which you are requesting access. To add other variables to this list, please include the instrument section and question number.

_____ State ID (encrypted if requesting AWS access)

_____ County ID (encrypted)

_____ Census Tract (encrypted)

_____ Census Block-Group (encrypted)

_____ ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes (please attach an Excel workbook listing the specific diagnosis codes of interest)

_____ Other (please specify instrument section, question number, and description below):

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

14)

Are you requesting AHRF data?

_____ Yes (please attach an Excel workbook listing the names and descriptions of requested variables.)

_____ No

15)

If you are requesting State IDs, will you be producing state-level estimates?

_____ N/A

_____ No

_____ Yes (please describe the state-level estimates you intend to produce):

16)

If you have data that you want to merge with AHRQ data describe how and why the merge is to be done in your research summary (item #21), and below describe the content of the data to be merged. Also, attach documentation for each file to be merged, including file layout, number of records, variable names and descriptive variable labels.

Data will not be merged unless the documentation is complete, including variable labels and value labels. The merging of files requiring the use of identifying or potentially identifying data will be conducted by our contractor. Complex merges may require the researcher to enter into a task order agreement with the data processing contractor. A cost estimate will be provided once the application is approved.

If merging State level data, there must be data for each State, and State identifiers will be removed or encrypted after the merge is complete. The resulting data set will be considered restricted, and its use limited to the AHRQ Data Center.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

17)

Please provide an estimated time frame for completing your Data Center project and how often you would like to have access to the Data Center, and with what frequency (daily for two weeks, weekly for two months, etc). Please be aware that it can take four to six weeks after your project has been approved to have your data files made available to you in the Data Center.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

18)

Please list your publication plans or other anticipated uses of the data/research results.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

19)

List below the persons other than yourself that will be working on this project who may have access to the data.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

20)

Select below the software to which you need access in the Data Center:

_____ SAS

_____ STATA

_____ R (not available on AWS)

_____ Other (please specify below)

21)

Attach the following items:

Cover letter addressed to the Manager of the AHRQ Data Center.
Resume or Curriculum Vitae for all persons associated with the project that will access the Data Center.
For students, a letter from the department chair confirming your student status and that the project is related to a degree requirement.
Abstract of the proposed research, not to exceed two pages.
Summary of the proposed research, including the following:
- Description of why publicly available data are inadequate
- Explicit listing of all requested restricted variables and why they are needed.
- Full description of the output that you anticipate removing. Please be very specific in describing your output needs, and specifically in how restricted-use data will be displayed. Include detailed examples of all table shells, models, and/or graphs with titles, and indicate the subsample and unit of analysis used in each type of table, model, or graph.
- Applications including subnational geographic estimates (except Census Region/Division) must include draft tables.
Notice of IRB review.
If merging researcher-supplied data, a letter from the data sponsor giving the AHRQ Data Center permission to keep the data and to make it available to other Data Center users.

I assert that the above and attached information is, to the best of my knowledge, true and complete.

Name (print/type): _____________________________________________________

Date: _______________________________

Page last revised: November 23, 2022

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