MEPS HC-0016H: 1997 Home Health File
June 2001
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 427-1406
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Data Use Agreement
B. Background
1.0 Household Component
2.0 Medical Provider Component
3.0 Insurance Component
4.0 Nursing Home Component
5.0 Survey Management
C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
2.0 Data File Information
2.1 Codebook Structure
2.2 Reserved Codes
2.3 Codebook Format
2.4 Variable Naming
2.4.1 General
2.4.2 Expenditure and Sources of Payment Variables
2.5 File 1 Contents
2.5.1 Survey Administration
2.5.1.1 Person Identifiers
(DUID, PID, DUPERSID)
2.5.1.2 Record Identifiers
(EVNTIDX, FFEEIDX, EVENTRN)
2.5.2 Characteristics of Home Health Events
2.5.2.1 Date Home Health Event Started
(HHBEGYR, HHBEGMM)
2.5.2.2 Characteristics of Home Health Events
(SELFAGEN-OTHCWOS)
2.5.2.3 Treatments, Therapies and Services
(HOSPITAL-OTHSVCOS)
2.5.2.4 Frequency of Home Health Events
(FREQCY-HHDAYS)
2.5.3 Condition and Procedure Codes and Clinical Classification Codes
2.5.3.1 Record Count Variable
(NUMCOND)
2.5.4 Flat Fee Variables
2.5.4.1 Definition of Flat Fee Payments
2.5.4.2 Flat Fee Variable Descriptions
2.5.4.3 Counts of Flat Fee Events that Cross Years (FFBEF97
FFTOT98)
2.5.4.4 Caveats of Flat Fee Groups
2.5.5 Expenditure Data
2.5.5.1 Definition of Expenditures
2.5.5.2 Data Editing/Imputation Methodologies of Expenditure
Variables
2.6 File 2 Contents: Pre-imputed Expenditure Variables
3.0 Sample Weights and Variance Estimation Variables (WTDPER97-VARPSU97)
3.1 Overview
3.2 Details on Person Weights Construction
3.2.1 MEPS Panel 1 Weight
3.2.2 MEPS Panel 2 Weight
3.2.3 The
Final Weight for 1997
3.2.4 Coverage
4.0 Strategies for Estimation
4.1 Variables with Missing Values
4.2 Basic Estimates of Utilization, Expenditure and Source of Payment
4.3 Estimates of the Number of Persons with Home Health Events Due to a
Hospitalization
4.4 Person-Based Ratio Estimates
4.4.1 Person-Based Ratio Estimates Relative to Persons with Home Health Events
by Independent Providers
4.4.2 Person-Based Ratio Estimates Relative to the Entire Population
4.5 Sampling Weights for Merging Previous Releases of MEPS Household Data with the
Current Data File
4.6 Variance Estimation
5.0 Merging/Linking MEPS Data File
5.1 Linking a 1997 Person-Level File to the 1997 Home Health Provider Event File
5.2 Linking the 1997 Home Health Provider Event file to the 1997 Medical Conditions
File and/or the 1997 Prescribed Medicines File
5.3 Limitations/Caveats of RXLK (the 1997 Prescribed Medicine Link File)
5.4 Limitations/Caveats of CLNK (the 1997 Medical Conditions Link File)
References
Attachment 1
D. Codebooks
(link to separate file)
A. Data Use Agreement
Individual identifiers have been removed from the microdata contained in the files on this CD-ROM.
Nevertheless, under sections 308 (d) and 903 (c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m
and 42 U.S.C. 299 a-1), data collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
and/or the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) may not be used for any purpose other than
for the purpose for which they were supplied; any effort to determine the identity of any reported
cases, is prohibited by law.
Therefore in accordance with the above referenced Federal statute, it is understood that:
- No one is to use the data in this data set in any way except for statistical reporting and
analysis.
If the identity of any person or establishment should be discovered inadvertently, then
(a) no use will be made of this knowledge, (b) the Director, Office of Management,
AHRQ will be advised of this incident, (c) the information that would identify any
individual or establishment will be safeguarded or destroyed, as requested by
AHRQ,
and (d) no one else will be informed of the discovered identity.
- No one will attempt to link this data set with individually identifiable records from any
data sets other than the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey or the National Health
Interview Survey.
By using these data you signify your agreement to comply with the above-stated statutorily based
requirements, with the knowledge that deliberately making a false statement in any matter within the
jurisdiction of any department or agency of the Federal Government violates 18 U.S.C. 1001 and is
punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or up to 5 years in prison.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality requests that users cite AHRQ and the Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey as the data source in any publications or research based upon these data.
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B. Background
This documentation describes one in a series of public use files from the Medical Expenditure Panel
Survey (MEPS). The survey provides a new and extensive data set on the use of health services and
health care in the United States.
MEPS is conducted to provide nationally representative estimates of health care use, expenditures,
sources of payment, and insurance coverage for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population.
MEPS also includes a nationally representative survey of nursing homes and their residents. MEPS
is cosponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (formerly the Agency
for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR)) and the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS).
MEPS comprises four component surveys: the Household Component (HC), the Medical Provider
Component (MPC), the Insurance Component (IC), and the Nursing Home Component (NHC). The
HC is the core survey, and it forms the basis for the MPC sample and part of the IC sample. The
separate NHC sample supplements the other MEPS components. Together these surveys yield
comprehensive data that provide national estimates of the level and distribution of health care use and
expenditures, support health services research, and can be used to assess health care policy
implications.
MEPS is the third in a series of national probability surveys conducted by AHRQ on the financing
and use of medical care in the United States. The National Medical Care Expenditure Survey
(NMCES, also known as NMES-1) was conducted in 1977. The National Medical Expenditure
Survey (NMES-2) was conducted in 1987. Beginning in 1996, MEPS continues this series with
design enhancements and efficiencies that provide a more current data resource to capture the
changing dynamics of the health care delivery and insurance system.
The design efficiencies incorporated into MEPS are in accordance with the Department of Health and
Human Services (DHHS) Survey Integration Plan of June 1995, which focused on consolidating
DHHS surveys, achieving cost efficiencies, reducing respondent burden, and enhancing analytical
capacities. To accommodate these goals, new MEPS design features include linkage with the
National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), from which the sampling frame for the MEPS HC is
drawn, and continuous longitudinal data collection for core survey components. The MEPS HC
augments NHIS by selecting a sample of NHIS respondents, collecting additional data on their health
care expenditures, and linking these data with additional information collected from the respondents'
medical providers, employers, and insurance providers.
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1.0 Household Component
The MEPS HC, a nationally representative survey of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population,
collects medical expenditure data at both the person and household levels. The HC collects detailed
data on demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical care services,
charges and payments, access to care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income, and
employment.
The HC uses an overlapping panel design in which data are collected through a preliminary contact
followed by a series of five rounds of interviews over a 2½-year period. Using computer-assisted
personal interviewing (CAPI) technology, data on medical expenditures and use for two calendar
years are collected from each household. This series of data collection rounds is launched each
subsequent year on a new sample of households to provide overlapping panels of survey data and,
when combined with other ongoing panels, will provide continuous and current estimates of health
care expenditures.
The sampling frame for the MEPS HC is drawn from respondents to NHIS, conducted by NCHS.
NHIS provides a nationally representative sample of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population,
with oversampling of Hispanics and blacks.
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2.0 Medical Provider Component
The MEPS MPC supplements and validates information on medical care events reported in the MEPS
HC by contacting medical providers and pharmacies identified by household respondents. The MPC
sample includes all hospitals, hospital physicians, home health agencies, and pharmacies reported in
the HC. Also included in the MPC are all office-based physicians who:
- were identified by the household respondent as providing care for HC respondents
receiving Medicaid.
- were selected through a 75-percent sample of HC households receiving care through an
HMO (health maintenance organization) or managed care plan.
- were selected through a 25-percent sample of the remaining HC households.
Data are collected on medical and financial characteristics of medical and pharmacy events reported
by HC respondents, including:
- Diagnoses coded according to ICD-9-CM (9th Revision, International Classification of
Diseases) and DSM-IV (Fourth Edition, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders).
- Physician procedure codes classified by CPT-4 (Common Procedure Terminology, Version
4).
- Inpatient stay codes classified by DRGs (diagnosis-related groups).
- Prescriptions coded by national drug code (NDC), medication name, strength, and quantity
dispensed.
- Charges, payments, and the reasons for any difference between charges and payments.
The MPC is conducted through telephone interviews and mailed survey materials. In some instances,
providers sent medical and billing records which were abstracted into the survey instruments.
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3.0 Insurance Component
The MEPS IC collects data on health insurance plans obtained through employers, unions, and other
sources of private health insurance. Data obtained in the IC include the number and types of private
insurance plans offered, benefits associated with these plans, premiums, contributions by employers
and employees, eligibility requirements, and employer characteristics.
Establishments participating in the MEPS IC are selected through four sampling frames:
- A list of employers or other insurance providers identified by MEPS HC respondents who
report having private health insurance at the Round 1 interview.
- A Bureau of the Census list frame of private-sector business establishments.
- The Census of Governments from Bureau of the Census.
- An Internal Revenue Service list of the self-employed.
To provide an integrated picture of health insurance, data collected from the first sampling frame
(employers and insurance providers) are linked back to data provided by the MEPS HC respondents.
Data from the other three sampling frames are collected to provide annual national and State estimates
of the supply of private health insurance available to American workers and to evaluate policy issues
pertaining to health insurance.
The MEPS IC is an annual survey. Data are collected from the selected organizations through a
prescreening telephone interview, a mailed questionnaire, and a telephone follow-up for
nonrespondents.
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4.0 Nursing Home Component
The 1996 MEPS NHC was a survey of nursing homes and persons residing in or admitted to nursing
homes at any time during calendar year 1996. The NHC gathered information on the demographic
characteristics, residence history, health and functional status, use of services, use of prescription
medicines, and health care expenditures of nursing home residents. Nursing home administrators and
designated staff also provided information on facility size, ownership, certification status, services
provided, revenues and expenses, and other facility characteristics. Data on the income, assets, family
relationships, and care-giving services for sampled nursing home residents were obtained from next-of-kin or other knowledgeable persons in the community.
The 1996 MEPS NHC sample was selected using a two-stage stratified probability design. In the first
stage, facilities were selected; in the second stage, facility residents were sampled, selecting both
persons in residence on January 1, 1996, and those admitted during the period January 1 through
December 31.
The sample frame for facilities was derived from the National Health Provider Inventory, which is
updated periodically by NCHS. The MEPS NHC data were collected in person in three rounds of
data collection over a 1½-year period using the CAPI system. Community data were collected by
telephone using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technology. At the end of three
rounds of data collection, the sample consisted of 815 responding facilities, 3,209 residents in the
facility on January 1, and 2,690 eligible residents admitted during 1996.
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5.0 Survey Management
MEPS data are collected under the authority of the Public Health Service Act. They are edited and
published in accordance with the confidentiality provisions of this act and the Privacy Act. NCHS
provides consultation and technical assistance.
As soon as data collection and editing are completed, the MEPS survey data are released to the public
in staged releases of summary reports and microdata files. Summary reports are released as printed
documents and electronic files. Microdata files are released on CD-ROM and/or as electronic files.
Printed documents and CD-ROMs are available through the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse.
Write or call:
AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse
Attn: (publication number)
P.O. Box 8547
Silver Spring, MD 20907
800/358-9295
410/381-3150 (callers outside the United States only)
888/586-6340 (toll-free TDD service; hearing impaired only)
Be sure to specify the AHRQ number of the document or CD-ROM you are requesting. Selected
electronic files are available from the Internet on the MEPS web site: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/.
Additional information on MEPS is available from the MEPS project manager or the MEPS public
use data manager at the Center for Cost and Financing Studies, Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality.
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C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
This documentation describes one in a series of public use event files from the 1997 Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey Household (HC) and Medical Provider Components (MPC). Released as
an ASCII data file and SAS transport file, this public use file provides detailed information on home
health events for a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of
the United States and can be used to make estimates of home health utilization and expenditures for
calendar year 1997. This file consists of MEPS survey data obtained in 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 MEPS HC (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 1997).
Counts of home health events are based entirely on household reports. Agency home health providers
were sampled into the MEPS MPC (see Section B.2.0). Only those providers for whom the
respondent signed a permission form were included in MPC. Information from MPC was used to
supplement expenditure and payment data reported by the household.
Data from this event file can be merged with other 1997 MEPS HC data files for purposes of
appending person characteristics, such as demographic or health insurance coverage to each home
health record.
This file can be also used to construct summary variables of expenditures, sources of payment, and
related aspects of home health events. Aggregate annual person-level information on the use of home
health providers and other health services use is provided on the 1997 Population Characteristics file,
where each record represents a MEPS sampled person.
The following documentation offers a brief overview of the data provided, the content and structure
of the files and the codebook, and programming information. It contains the following sections:
Data File Information
Sample Weights and Variance Estimation Variables
Merging MEPS Data Files
References
Codebook
Variable to Source Crosswalk
For more information on MEPS HC survey design see S. Cohen, 1997; J. Cohen, 1997; and S. Cohen,
1996. For information on the MEPS MPC design, see S. Cohen, 1998. A copy of the survey
instruments used to collect the information on this file is available on the MEPS web site at the
following address: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov.
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2.0 Data File Information
This public use data set consists of two event-level data files. File 1 contains characteristics
associated with the home health event and imputed expenditure data. File 2 contains un-imputed
expenditure data from both the Household and Medical Provider Components for all home health
events on File 1 except for records receiving care from informal care providers, of which no
expenditure information was obtained.
Each record represents a household-reported home health event. A home health event is a MONTH
of similar service provided by the same PROVIDER -- a month of home health services from a single
provider entity (i.e., paid independent informal or agency). For example, if a person received 4 events
from a nurse, 10 events from a homemaker and 4 events from a physical therapist all from the same
provider every month for 3 months, then there will be 3 event records on the file, one for each month
(NOT 54 records). Data were collected in this manner because agencies, hospitals, and nursing
homes provide expenditure data in this manner. In order to be consistent with the definition of what
is considered a home health event on this file, this same definition (i.e., a month of similar services)
was applied to all types of providers. Persons with more than one event are represented on this file
more than once. Likewise, persons who do not have a home health event are not represented on the
file.
File 1 of this public use data set contains 6852 home health records. Of the 6852 records, 6741 are
associated with persons having a positive person-level weight (WTDPER97). File 1 includes all
records related to home health events for all household survey respondents who resided in eligible
responding households and reported at least one home health event. File 2 does not include those
records in which the care received was from an informal care provider. Each record represents one
household-reported home health event that occurred during calender year 1997. Some household
respondents may have multiple events and thus will be represented in multiple records on the file.
Other household respondents may have reported no events and thus will have no records on this file.
These data were collected 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 MEPS HC. The persons represented
on this file had to meet either (a) or (b):
(a) Be classified as a key in-scope person who responded for his or her entire period of 1997
eligibility (i.e., persons with a positive 1997 full-year person-level sampling weight
(WTDPER97>0)), or
(b) Be classified as either an eligible non-key person or an eligible out-of-scope person who
responded for his or her entire period of 1997 eligibility, and belonged to a family (i.e., all
persons with the same value for a particular FAMID variables) in which all eligible family
members responded for their entire period of 1997 eligibility, and at least one family
member has a positive 1997 full-year person weight (i.e., eligible non-key or eligible out-of-scope persons who are members of a family all of whose members have a positive 1997 full-year MEPS family-level weight (WTFAM97>0)).
Please refer to Attachment 1 for definitions of key, non-key, inscope and eligible. Persons with no
home health events for 1997 are not included on this file (but are represented on the 1997 MEPS
person-level files). A codebook for the data file is provided.
Home health providers include formal or paid, and informal or unpaid providers. Formal or paid
providers include: home health agency, hospital, or nursing home, and other independent paid
providers. Informal or unpaid providers include family and friends.
For home health agencies, hospitals, and nursing homes, it is important to distinguish between the
provider and the home health worker. In these cases, the provider is the agency or the facility that
employs the workers. The home health workers are the people who administer the care. Examples
of home health care workers are the following: nurses, physical therapists, home health aides,
homemakers, and hospice workers, among others. These examples are generally the types of workers
associated with agencies, hospitals, and nursing homes. Paid independent providers generally include
companions, nursing assistants, physicians, etc. For each record on File 1, one or more types of
workers can be reported. The respondent is asked to mention all of the types of home health workers
who provided home health care (since records represent a month of service, there can be more than
one type of worker on a single record). For example, an agency that provides two types of aides that
provide home health care to the same person during a specific month is represented as one event on
the file (even though two workers employed at the same agency provided care) -- when using this file
analysts must keep in mind that a record on the file corresponds to a provider entity not an individual
or particular worker.
Expenditure data for home health agency events are collected exclusively in the MPC. Other paid
independent home health care event expenditure data are collected from the household. These types
of events are not included in the MPC. Friends, family and volunteers providing home health care
to a person are considered unpaid and are not included in the MPC (no expenditure information is
available for them).
Each home health record on File 1 also includes the following: date the provider started seeing the
respondent; type of provider; types of services provided and if this was a repeat event; if care was
received due to hospitalization; whether or not a person was taught how to use medical equipment;
flat fee information; imputed sources of payment, total payment and total charge of the home health
event expenditure; and a full-year person-level weight.
File 2 of this public use data set contains 5,727 home health records. File 2 has less records than File
1 because home health records where friends, family and volunteers provided the home health care
to a person are considered unpaid and are not included on File 2 (no expenditure information is
available for them). File 2 of this public use data set is intended for analysts who want to perform
their own imputations to handle missing data. This file contains one set of un-imputed expenditure
information from the MPC (if home health provider was sampled in the MPC) as well as one set of
pre-imputed expenditure information from the HC. Both sets of expenditure data have been subject
to minimal logical editing that accounted for outliers, copayments or charges reported as total
payments, and reimbursed amounts that were reported as out of pocket payments. In addition, edits
were implemented to correct for mis-classifications between Medicare and Medicaid and between
Medicare HMO's and private HMO's as payment sources. However, missing data were not imputed.
Data from these files can be merged with previously released 1997 MEPS HC person-level data using
the unique person identifier, DUPERSID, to append person-level characteristics such as demographic
or health insurance coverage to each record. The 1997 home health event file can also be linked to
the MEPS 1997 Medical Conditions File and the MEPS 1997 Prescribed Medicines File. Please see
Section 5.0 and the 1997 Appendix File for details on how to link MEPS data files.
Panel 1 cases (Panel97=1 on the 1997 person-level file) can be linked back to the 1996 MEPS HC
Public Use Data Files. However, the user should be aware, at this time, no weight is being provided
to facilitate 2 year analysis of Panel 1 data.
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2.1 Codebook Structure
For each variable on these files, both weighted and unweighted frequencies are provided. The
codebook and data file sequence list variables in the following order:
File 1
Unique person identifiers
Unique home health event identifier
Other survey administration variables
Home health characteristic variables
Imputed expenditure variables
Weight and variance estimation variables
File 2
Unique person identifiers
Unique home health event identifier
Pre-imputed expenditure variables
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2.2 Reserved Codes
The following reserved code values are used:
Value Definition
-1 INAPPLICABLE Question was not asked due to skip pattern.
-7 REFUSED Question was asked and respondent refused to answer
question.
-8 DK Question was asked and respondent did not know answer.
-9 NOT ASCERTAINED Interviewer did not record the data.
Generally, -1,-7, -8, and -9 have not been edited on this file. The values of -1 and -9 can be edited
by analysts by following the skip patterns in the questionnaire.
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2.3 Codebook Format
This codebook describes an ASCII data set (although the data are also being provided in a SAS
transport file). The following codebook items are provided for each variable:
| IDENTIFIER |
DESCRIPTION |
| Name |
Variable name (maximum of 8
characters) |
| Description |
Variable descriptor (maximum 40
characters) |
| Format |
Number of bytes |
| Type |
Type of data: numeric (indicated by
NUM) or character (indicated by CHAR) |
| Start |
Beginning column position of
variable in record |
| End |
Ending column position of variable
in record |
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2.4 Variable Naming
In general, variable names reflect the content of the variable, with an 8 character limitation.
For questions asked in a specific round, the end digit in the variable name reflects the round in which
the question was asked. All imputed/edited variables end with an "X."
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2.4.1 General
Variables contained on Files 1 and 2 were derived either from the HC questionnaire itself, the MPC
data collection instrument, or from the CAPI. The source of each variable is identified in Section E,
entitled, "Variable - Source Crosswalk." Sources for each variable are indicated in one of four ways:
(1) variables which are derived from CAPI or assigned in sampling are so indicated; (2) variables
which come from one or more specific questions have those numbers and the questionnaire section
indicated in the "Source" column; (3) variables constructed from multiple questions using complex
algorithms are labeled "Constructed" in the "Source" column; and (4) variables which have been
imputed are so indicated.
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2.4.2 Expenditure and Sources of Payment Variables
The pre-imputed and imputed versions of the expenditure and sources of payment variables are
provided on the 2 separate files. Variables on Files 1 and 2 follow a standard naming convention and
are 8 characters in length. Please note that pre-imputed means that a series of logical edits have been
performed on the variable but missing data remains. The imputed versions incorporate the same edits
but have also undergone an imputation process to account for missing data.
The pre-imputed expenditure variables on File 2 end with an "H." All imputed variables on File 1
end with an "X."
The total sum of payments, 12 sources of payment variables and total charge variables are named
consistently in the following way:
The first two characters indicate the type of event:
IP - inpatient stay
OB - office-based visit
ER - emergency room visit
OP - outpatient visit
HH - home health event
DV - dental visit
OM - other medical equipment
RX - prescribed medicine
In the case of sources of payment variables, the third and fourth characters indicate:
SF - self or family
OF - other Federal Government
XP - sum of payments
MR - Medicare
SL - State/local government
MD - Medicaid
WC - Worker's Compensation
PV - private insurance
OT - other insurance
VA - Veterans
OR - other private
CH - CHAMPUS/CHAMPVA
OU - other public
The fifth and sixth characters indicate the year (97). The last character indicates whether it is
edited/imputed (X) or is a pre-imputed variable (H).
For example, HHSF97X is the edited/imputed amount paid by self or family for a home health event
expenditure incurred in 1997.
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2.5 File 1 Contents
2.5.1 Survey Administration
2.5.1.1 Person Identifiers (DUID, PID, DUPERSID)
The dwelling unit ID (DUID) is a 5-digit random number assigned after the case was sampled for
MEPS. The 3-digit person number (PID) uniquely identifies each person within the dwelling unit. The
8-character variable DUPERSID uniquely identifies each person represented on the file and is the
combination of the variables DUID and PID. For detailed information on dwelling units and families,
please refer to Attachment 1.
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2.5.1.2 Record Identifiers (EVNTIDX, FFEEIDX, EVENTRN)
EVNTIDX uniquely identifies each event (i.e., each record on the file).
FFEEIDX uniquely identifies a flat fee group, that is, all events that were part of a flat fee payment
situation. For example, pregnancy is typically covered in a flat fee arrangement where the prenatal
visits, the delivery, and the postpartum visits are all covered under one flat fee dollar amount. These
three events (the prenatal visit, the delivery, and the postpartum visits) have the same value for
FFEEIDX. Please note that FFEEIDX should be used to link up all 1997 MEPS event files (excluding
prescribed medicines) in order to determine the full set of events that are part of a flat fee group.
EVENTRN indicates the round in which the home health event was first reported.
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2.5.2 Characteristics of Home Health Events
File 1 contains 44 variables describing home health events reported by respondents in the Home
Health section of the MEPS-HC questionnaire. The questionnaire contains specific probes for
determining specific details about the home health event.
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2.5.2.1 Date Home Health Event Started (HHBEGYR, HHBEGMM)
The start date variables (HHBEGYR and HHBEGMM) indicate the year and month that the
household respondent reported as the start date (or the first time) for this type of home health event.
An artifact of the data collection for the variable HHBEGYR is that all events are reported as having
started in 1997 even though a person could have started receiving that type of home health care from
that provider year(s) before 1997. These variables should not be interpreted as "true"start dates.
2.5.2.2 Characteristics of Home Health Events (SELFAGEN-OTHCWOS)
The HC questionnaire determines
whether the home health provider event(s) for each month's services
was an agency or whether the provider was an independent paid provider
(SELFAGEN).
Respondents were also asked if the provider was paid or whether services
were provided by a friend, relative, or volunteer (HHTYPE). The constructed
variable MPCELIG is also provided on this file.
MPCELIG indicates wether the home health provider event was eligible
for MPC data collection. However, user's should be aware that MPCELIG
was not reconciled with SELFAGEN and there may
be inconsistencies between the two variables. All respondents receiving
care from an agency, hospital or nursing home were asked to identify
the type of home health worker they saw (CNA-SPEECTHP)
-- for example, certified nursing assistant, home health aide, registered
nurse, etc. Analysts should keep in mind that these identifications
by household respondents are subjective in nature, are not
mutually exclusive or collectively exhaustive, and should not be used
to make certain estimates. For example, a person on one type of insurance
may identify an individual providing home health care
services to them as a personal care attendant while an individual having
a different type of insurance coverage may identify that same worker
as a home care aide. To make estimates of personal care
attendants or home care aides based on the their identification by
household respondents and by treating these types of workers as mutually
exclusive groups will result in inaccurate estimates.
Respondents may also have indicated that they were seen by more than
one home health care worker during a single event. For example, since
an event is a month of services a respondent may have
reported being seen by a nurse, a physical therapist, and/or a home
health aide during a single event. Respondents were also asked to
identify other non-skilled and skilled workers seen during that month
of care (NONSKILL-OTHCWOS). However, "other specify" variables
(SKILLWOS and OTHCWOS) were not reconciled with the type of health
care worker variable (CNA-SPEECTHP).
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2.5.2.3 Treatments, Therapies and Services (HOSPITAL-OTHSVCOS)
Regardless of the type of provider, all respondents were asked if the home health services they
received were due to a hospitalization (HOSPITAL), whether it was due to a medical condition
(VSTRELCN), if the person was helped with daily activities (DAILYACT), if the person received
companionship services (COMPANY), and whether or not the person received any other type of
services (OTHSVCE and OTHSVCOS). Only persons receiving care from an agency, hospital, or
nursing home were asked if they were taught how to use medical equipment (MEDEQUIP) and
whether or not they received a medical treatment (TREATMT).
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2.5.2.4 Frequency of Home Health Events (FREQCY-HHDAYS)
Several variables identify the frequency and length of home health events (FREQCY-MINLONG)
and whether or not the same services were received during each month (SAMESVCE). Frequency
of event variables (FREQCY- TMSPDAY) were used as building blocks to construct HHDAYS.
HHDAYS indicates the number of days the respondent received care during that event (i.e., month
of care). HHDAYS has not been reconciled with DAYSPMO. Frequency variables can be combined
to get a measure of the intensity of care. For example, HHDAYS used in conjunction with
HRSLONG and TMSPDAY, can be used to form a measure of intensity of care -- that is, how many
hours of care was provided in one month.
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2.5.3 Condition and Procedure Codes and Clinical Classification Codes
Information on household reported medical conditions and procedures (including condition codes,
procedure codes, and clinical classification codes) associated with each home health event are NOT
provided on this file. To obtain complete condition information associated with an event, the analyst
must link to the 1997 Medical Conditions File. Details on how to link to the MEPS 1997 Medical
Conditions File are provided in the 1997 Appendix File.
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2.5.3.1 Record Count Variable (NUMCOND)
The variable NUMCOND indicates the total number of condition and procedure records that can be
linked from the 1997 Medical Conditions File to each home health record. For events where no
condition records linked, NUMCOND=0. In order to obtain complete condition information for
events with NUMCOND greater than 0, the analyst must link to the 1997 MEPS Condition File. See
Section 5.0 for details on linking MEPS data files.
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2.5.4 Flat Fee Variables
User's Note: For home health events, use flat fee variables with caution. Flat fees are not common
with respect to home health events (only 4 home health provider events are identified as being part
of a flat fee) and should not be a focus of an analysis.
2.5.4.1 Definition of Flat Fee Payments
A flat fee is the fixed dollar amount a person is charged for a package of health care services. An
example is obstetrician's fee covering a normal delivery, as well as pre- and post-natal care. A flat
fee group is the set of medical services (i.e., events) that are covered under the same flat fee payment
situation. The flat fee groups represented on this file (and all of the other 1997 MEPS event files),
include flat fee groups where at least one of the health care events, as reported by the HC respondent,
occurred during 1997. By definition a flat fee group can span multiple years and/or event types (e.g.,
hospital stay, physician office visit), and a single person can have multiple flat fee groups.
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2.5.4.2 Flat Fee Variable Descriptions
FFHHTYPE indicates whether the 1997 home health provider event is the "stem" or "leaf" of a flat
fee group. A stem (records with FFHHTYPE = 1) is the initial medical service (event) which is
followed by other medical events that are covered under the same flat fee payment. The leaf of the
flat fee group (records with FFHHTYPE = 2) are those medical events that are tied back to the initial
medical event (the stem) in the flat fee group.
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2.5.4.3 Counts of Flat Fee Events that Cross Years (FFBEF97 FFTOT98)
As described above, a flat fee payment situation covers multiple events and the multiple events could
span multiple years. For situations where a 1997 home health provider event is part of a group of
events, and some of the events occurred before 1997, counts of the known events are provided on the
home health provider event file record. An indicator variable is provided if some of the events
occurred after 1997. These variables are:
FFBEF97 -- total number of pre-1997 events in the same flat fee group as the
1997 home health provider event record. This count would not include 1997
home health provider event.
FFTOT98 -- indicates whether or not there any 1998 medical events in the
same flat fee group as the 1997 home health provider event record.
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2.5.4.4 Caveats of Flat Fee Groups
The user should note that flat fee payment situations are not common with respect to home health
provider events. There are 4 home health provider events that are identified as being part of a flat fee
payment group.
In general, every flat fee group should have an initial event (stem) and at least one subsequent event
(leaf). There are some situations where this is not true. For some of these flat fee groups, the initial
event reported occurred in 1997 but the remaining events that were part of this flat fee group occurred
in 1998. In this case, the 1997 flat fee group represented on this file would consist of one event (the
stem). The 1998 events that are part of this flat fee group are not represented on this file. Similarly,
the household respondent may have reported a flat fee group where the initial event began in 1996
but subsequent events occurred during 1997. In this case, the initial event would not be represented
on the file. This 1997 flat fee group would then only consist of one or more leaf records and no stem.
Another reason for which a flat fee group would not have a stem and a leaf record is that the stems
or leaves could have been reported as different event types.
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2.5.5 Expenditure Data
2.5.5.1 Definition of Expenditures
Expenditures on Files 1 and 2 refer to what is paid for health care services. More specifically,
expenditures in MEPS are defined as the sum of payments for care received, including out of pocket
payments and payments made by private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and other sources. The
definition of expenditures used in MEPS differs slightly from its predecessors, the 1987 NMES and
1977 NMCES surveys, where "charges" rather than sum of payments were used to measure
expenditures. This change was adopted because charges became a less appropriate proxy for medical
expenditures during the 1990's due to the increasingly common practice of discounting. Although
measuring expenditures as the sum of payments incorporates discounts in the MEPS expenditure
estimates, these estimates do not incorporate any payment not directly tied to specific medical care
events, such as bonuses or retrospective payment adjustments paid by third party payers. Another
general change from the two prior surveys is that charges associated with uncollected liability, bad
debt, and charitable care (unless provided by a public clinic or hospital) are not counted as
expenditures because there are no payments associated with those classifications. For details on
expenditure definitions, please reference the following, "Informing American Health Care Policy"
(Monheit et al., 1999).
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2.5.5.2 Data Editing/Imputation Methodologies of Expenditure Variables
General Imputation Methodology
The general methodology used for editing and imputing expenditure data is described below.
However, please note, home health events provided by an agency, hospital or nursing home were
included in the MPC, and home health provided by paid independent events were not followed in the
MPC. Although the general procedures remain the same for all home health events, there were some
differences in the editing and imputation methodologies applied to those events followed in the MPC
and those events not followed in the MPC. Analysts should note that home health care provided by
friends, family, or volunteers were assumed to be free and were not included in any imputation
process. Please see below for details on the differences between these editing/imputation
methodologies.
Home health expenditure data for agency, hospital, and nursing home providers were collected
exclusively from the MPC (i.e., household respondents were not asked to report home health
expenditures from these types of providers). The MPC contacted 100 percent of the agency, hospital,
and nursing home health providers identified by household respondents. Since paid independent home
health providers were not included in the MPC, all expenditure data from these providers were
collected from household respondents.
Logical edits were used to resolve internal inconsistencies and other problems in the HC and MPC
survey-reported data. The edits were designed to preserve partial payment data from households and
providers, and to identify actual and potential sources of payment for each household-reported event.
In general, these edits accounted for outliers, co-payments or charges reported as total payments, and
reimbursed amounts that were reported as out of pocket payments. In addition, edits were
implemented to correct for mis-classifications between Medicare and Medicaid and between
Medicare HMO's and private HMO's as payment sources. These edits produced a complete vector
of expenditures for some events, and provided the starting point for imputing missing expenditures
in the remaining events.
A weighted sequential hot-deck procedure was used to impute for missing expenditures as well as
total charge. The procedure uses survey data from respondents to replace missing data, while taking
into account the respondents' weighted distribution in the imputation process. Classification variables
vary by event type in the hot-deck imputations, but total charge and insurance coverage are key
variables in all of the imputations.
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Imputation Methodology for Home Health Events
Expenditures for home health events were developed in a sequence of logical edits and imputations.
Analysts should note that home health care provided by friends, family, or volunteers were assumed
to be free and were not included in any imputation process. "Household" edits were applied to sources
and amounts of payment for all events reported for paid independent providers by HC respondents.
"MPC" edits were applied to provider-reported sources and amounts of payment for records matched
to household-reported events for all agency, hospital, and nursing home home health providers. Both
sets of edits were used to correct obvious errors in the reporting of expenditures. Imputations for
independent paid providers and for agencies, hospitals, and nursing homes were conducted separately.
Separate imputations also were performed for flat fee and simple events.
Logical edits were used to sort each event into a specific category for the imputations. Events with
complete expenditures were flagged as potential donors for the hot-deck imputations while events
with missing expenditure data were assigned to various recipient categories. Each event was assigned
to a recipient category based on its pattern of missing data. For example, an event with a known total
charge but no expenditure information was assigned to one category, while an event with a known
total charge and some expenditure information was assigned to a different category. Similarly, events
without a known total charge were assigned to various recipient categories based on the amount of
missing data.
The logical edits produced eight recipient categories for events with missing data. Expenditures were
imputed through separate hot-deck imputations for each of the eight recipient categories. The donor
pool in these imputations was restricted to events with complete expenditures from either the HC or
the MPC.
The donor pool included "free events" because, in some instances, providers are not paid for their
services. These events represent charity care, bad debt, provider failure to bill, and third party payer
restrictions on reimbursement in certain circumstances. If free events were excluded from the donor
pool, total expenditures would be over-counted because the cost of free care would be implicitly
included in paid events and explicitly included in events that should have been treated as free from
provider. Analysts should note that home health care provided by friends, family, or volunteers were
assumed to be free and were not included in any imputation process.
Flat Fee Expenditures
The approach used to count expenditures for flat fees was to place the expenditure on the first event
of the flat fee group. The remaining events have zero payments. Thus, if the first event in the flat fee
group occurred prior to 1997, all of the events that occurred in 1997 will have zero payments.
Conversely, if the first event in the flat fee group occurred at the end of 1997, the total expenditure
for the entire flat fee group will be on that event, regardless of the number of events it covered after
1997.
Zero Expenditures
There are some medical events reported by respondents where the payments were zero. This could
occur for several reasons including (1) free care was provided, (2) bad debt was incurred, (3) care was
covered under a flat fee arrangement beginning in an earlier year, or (4) follow-up events were
provided without a separate charge (e.g., after a surgical procedure). If all of the medical events for
a person fell into one of these categories, then the total annual expenditures for that person would be
zero. Home health care provided by family, friends or a volunteer were considered free care and have
zero dollars associated with them.
Discount Adjustment Factor
An adjustment was also applied to some HC reported expenditure data because an evaluation of
matched HC/MPC data showed that respondents who reported that charges and payments were equal
were often unaware that insurance payments for the care had been based on a discounted charge. To
compensate for this systematic reporting error, a weighted sequential hot-deck imputation procedure
was implemented to determine an adjustment factor for HC reported insurance payments when
charges and payments were reported to be equal. As for the other imputations, selected predictor
variables were used to form groups of donor and recipient events for the imputation process.
Sources of Payment
In addition to total expenditures, variables are provided which itemize expenditures according to
major sources of payment categories. These categories are:
1. Out of pocket by user or family
2. Medicare
3. Medicaid
4. Private Insurance
5. Veteran's Administration, excluding CHAMPVA
6. CHAMPUS or CHAMPVA
7. Other Federal sources - includes Indian Health Service, Military Treatment Facilities,
and other care by the Federal government
8. Other State and Local Sources - includes community and neighborhood clinics, State
and local health departments, and State programs other than Medicaid.
9. Worker's Compensation
10. Other Unclassified Sources - includes sources such as automobile, homeowner's,
liability, and other miscellaneous or unknown sources.
Two additional sources of payment variables were created to classify payments for events with
apparent inconsistencies between insurance coverage and sources of payment based on data collected
in the survey. These variables include:
11. Other Private - any type of private insurance payments reported for persons not
reported to have any private health insurance coverage during the year as defined in
MEPS; and
12. Other Public - Medicaid payments reported for persons who were not reported to be
enrolled in the Medicaid program at any time during the year.
Though relatively small in magnitude, users should exercise caution when interpreting the
expenditures associated with these two additional sources of payment. While these payments stem
from apparent inconsistent responses to health insurance and sources of payment questions in the
survey, some of these inconsistencies may have logical explanations. For example, private insurance
coverage in MEPS is defined as having a major medical plan covering hospital and physician
services. If a MEPS sampled person did not have such coverage but had a single service type
insurance plan (e.g., dental insurance) that paid for a particular episode of care, those payments may
be classified as "other private." Some of the "other public" payments may stem from confusion
between Medicaid and other state and local programs or may be persons who were not enrolled in
Medicaid, but were presumed eligible by a provider who ultimately received payments from the
program.
Users should also note that the Other Public and Other Private sources of payment categories only
exist on File 1 for imputed expenditure data since they were created through the editing/imputation
process. File 2 reflect 10 sources of payment as they were collected through the MEPS HC and MPC
survey instruments.
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Home Health Expenditure Variables (HHSF97X - HHXP97X and HHSF97H-HHUC97H)
There are 12 expenditure variables specific to
paid independent home health events and 14 expenditure variables specific
to agency home health events. Home health agency, hospital, and
nursing home events are sampled at a rate of 100% for the MPC. Households
were not asked any expenditure-related questions in regards to these
types of events, therefore, there are no household
reported expenditure data for these events. Independent paid providers
are not included in the MPC. Household reported responses are the
only data available for these types of events. All expenditure
data for paid independent providers are fully imputed from household
reported expenditures. There are no expenditure data for informal care
providers. It was assumed that these events were free.
Informal care (unpaid care provided by family, friends, or volunteers)
results in a -1 in all expenditure categories. The constructed variable
MPCELIG is provided on this file. MPCELIG indicates wether
the home health provider event was eligible for MPC data collection,
and MPCELIG determines the imputation process applied to that event.
However, user's should be aware that MPCELIG was not
reconciled with SELFAGEN and there may be inconsistencies between the
two variables.
All of these expenditures have gone through an editing and imputation process and have been rounded
to the second decimal place. There is a sum of payments variable (HHXP97X) which for each home
health event sums all the expenditures from the various sources of payment. The 12 sources of
payment expenditure variables for each home health event are the following: amount paid by self or
family (HHSF97X), amount paid by Medicare (HHMR97X), amount paid by Medicaid (HHMD97X),
amount paid by private insurance (HHPV97X), amount paid by Veterans Administration
(HHVA97X), amount paid by CHAMPUS/CHAMPVA (HHCH97X), amount paid other federal
sources (HHOF97X), amount paid by state and local (non-federal) government sources (HHSL97X),
amount paid by Worker's Compensation (HHWC97X), and amount paid by some other source of
insurance (HHOT97X). As mentioned previously, there are two additional expenditure variables
called HHOR97X and HHOU97X (other private and other public respectively). These two
expenditure variables were created to maintain consistency between what the household reported as
their private and public insurance status for hospitalization and physician coverage. Analysts can
determine if a home health event was paid by an agency or some other paid independent provider by
subsetting the variable SELFAGEN to the appropriate and desired value.
Rounding
Expenditure variables on the 1997 home health event file have been rounded to the nearest penny.
Person-level expenditure information released on the 1997 person-level expenditure file were rounded
to the nearest dollar. It should be noted that using the1997 MEPS event files to create person-level
totals will yield slightly different totals than those on the 1997 person-level expenditure file. These
differences are due to rounding only. Moreover, in some instances, the number of persons having
expenditures on the 1997 event files for a particular source of payment may differ from the number
of persons with expenditures on the 1997 person-level expenditure file for that source of payment.
This difference is also an artifact of rounding only. Please see the 1997 Appendix File for details on
such rounding differences.
Imputation Flags
The variables IMPHHSLF-IMPHHCHG identify records where the home health provider expense has
been imputed using the methodologies outlined in this document. When a record was identified as
being the leaf of a flat fee, the values of all imputation flags were set to "0" (not imputed) since they
we are not included in the imputation process. In cases where an amount is 0 and the imputation flag
is 1, the 0 payment is because either it is imputed to be 0 or its potential source is imputed as not
paying for the service. Therefore, the corresponding amount is set to 0.
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2.6 File 2 Contents: Pre-imputed Expenditure Variables
Pre-imputed expenditure data are provided on File 2. Pre-imputed means that only a series of logical
edits were applied to both the HC and MPC data to correct for several problems including outliers,
co-payments or charges reported as total payments, and reimbursed amounts counted as out-of-pocket
payments. Edits were also implemented to correct for misclassifications between Medicare and
Medicaid and between Medicare HMO's and private HMO's as payment sources, as well as number
of other data inconsistencies that could be resolved through logical edits. Missing data were not
imputed.
The user should note that there exist only 10 sources of payment variables in the pre-imputed
expenditure data, while the imputed expenditure data on File 1 contains 12 sources of payment
variables. The additional two sources of payments (which are not reported as separate sources of
payment through the data collection) are Other Private and Other Public. These sources of payment
categories were constructed to resolve apparent inconsistencies between individuals' reported
insurance coverage and their sources of payment for specific events.
The user should also note that the variable HHSFFIDX, which is the original flat fee identifier that
was derived during the household interview, should be used only if user is interested in performing
their own expenditure imputation.
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3.0 Sample Weights and Variance Estimation Variables (WTDPER97-VARPSU97)
3.1 Overview
There is a single full year person-level weight (WTDPER97) included on this file. A person-level
weight was assigned to each home health provider event reported by a key, in-scope person who
responded to MEPS for the full period of time that he or she was in-scope during 1997. A key person
either was a member of an NHIS household at the time of the NHIS interview, or became a member
of such a household after being out-of-scope at the time of the NHIS (examples of the latter situation
include newborns and persons returning from military service, an institution, or living outside the
United States). A person is in-scope whenever he or she is a member of the civilian
noninstitutionalized portion of the U.S. population.
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3.2 Details on Person Weights Construction
The person-level weight WTDPER97 was developed in three stages. A person level weight for panel
2 was created, including both an adjustment for nonresponse over time and poststratification,
controlling to Current Population Survey (CPS) population estimates based on five variables.
Variables used in the establishment of person-level poststratification control figures included: census
region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West); MSA status (MSA, non-MSA); race/ethnicity (Hispanic,
black but non-Hispanic, and other); sex; and age. Then a person level weight for Panel 1 was created,
again including an adjustment for nonresponse over time and poststratification, again controlling to
CPS population estimates based on the same five variables. When poverty status information derived
from income variables became available, a 1997 composite weight was formed from the panel 1 and
panel 2 weights by multiplying the Panel weights by .5. Then a final poststratification was done on
this composite weight variable, including poverty status (below poverty, from 100 to 125 percent of
poverty, from 125 to 200 percent of poverty, from 200 to 400 percent of poverty, at least 400 percent
of poverty) as well as the original five poststratification variables in the establishment of control
totals.
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3.2.1 MEPS Panel 1 Weight
The person level weight for MEPS Panel 1 was developed using the 1996 full year weight for an
individual as a "base" weight for survey participants present in 1996. For key, inscope respondents
who joined an RU some time in 1997 after being out-of-scope in 1996, the 1996 family weight
associated with the family the person joined served as a "base" weight. The weighting process
included an adjustment for nonresponse over Rounds 4 and 5 as well as poststratification to
population control figures for December, 1997. These control figures were derived by scaling back
the population totals obtained from the March 1998 CPS to reflect the December, 1997 CPS estimated
population distribution across age and sex categories as of December, 1997. Variables used in the
establishment of person level poststratification control figures included: census region (Northeast,
Midwest, South, West); MSA status (MSA, non-MSA); race/ethnicity (Hispanic, black but non-Hispanic, and other); sex, and age. Overall, the weighted population estimate for the civilian,
noninstitutionalized population on December 31, 1997 is 267,704,802. Key, responding persons not
inscope on December 31, 1997 but inscope earlier in the year retained, as their final Panel 1 weight,
the weight after the nonresponse adjustment.
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3.2.2 MEPS Panel 2 Weight
The person level weight for MEPS Panel 2 was developed using the MEPS Round 1 person-level
weight as a "base" weight. For key, inscope respondents who joined an RU after Round 1, the Round
1 family weight served as a "base" weight. The weighting process included an adjustment for
nonresponse over Round 2 and the 1997 portion of Round 3 as well as poststratification to the same
population control figures for December 1997 used for the MEPS Panel 1 weights. The same five
variables employed for Panel 1 poststratification (census region, MSA status, race/ethnicity, sex, and
age) were used for Panel 2 poststratification. Similarly, for Panel 2, key, responding persons not
inscope on December 31, 1997 but inscope earlier in the year retained, as their final Panel 2 weight,
the weight after the nonresponse adjustment.
Note that the MEPS round 1 weights (for both panels with one exception as noted below)
incorporated the following components: the original household probability of selection for the NHIS;
ratio-adjustment to NHIS-based national population estimates at the household (occupied dwelling
unit) level; the probability of selection of dwelling units associated with the oversampling of five
population domains of analytic interest (for Panel 2 only); adjustment for nonresponse at the dwelling
unit level for Round 1; and poststratification to figures at the family and person level obtained from
the March 1997 CPS data base. The five oversampled domains for Panel 2 were households with:
persons with functional impairments; children with limitations in activity; individuals 18-64 expected
to incur high medical expenditures based on a statistical model; persons with family incomes
expected to be below 200 percent of poverty based on a statistical model; and adults with other
impairments.
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3.2.3 The Final Weight for 1997
Variables used in the establishment of person level poststratification control figures included: poverty
status (below poverty, from 100 to 125 percent of poverty, from 125 to 200 percent of poverty, from
200 to 400 percent of poverty, at least 400 percent of poverty); census region (Northeast, Midwest,
South, West); MSA status (MSA, non-MSA); race/ethnicity (Hispanic, black but non-Hispanic, and
other); sex, and age. Overall, the weighted population estimate for the civilian, noninstitutionalized
population for December 31, 1997 is 267,704,802 (WTDPER97>0 and INSC1231=1). The inclusion
of key, inscope persons who were not inscope on December 31, 1997 brings the estimated total
number of persons represented by the MEPS respondents over the course of the year up to
271,278,585 (WTDPER97>0). The weighting process included poststratification to population totals
obtained from the 1996 MEPS Nursing Home Component for the number of individuals admitted to
nursing homes. For the 1996 full year file an additional poststratification was done to population
totals obtained from the 1996 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) for the number of deaths
among Medicare beneficiaries experienced in the 1996 MEPS. However, in 1997 the difference
between the MEPS and MCBS estimates was not statistically significant, and no adjustment was
made.
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3.2.4 Coverage
The target population for MEPS in this file is the 1997 U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population.
However, the MEPS sampled households are a subsample of the NHIS households interviewed in
1995 (Panel 1) and 1996 (Panel 2). New households created after the NHIS interviews for the
respective Panels and consisting exclusively of persons who entered the target population after 1995
(Panel 1) or after 1996 (Panel 2) are not covered by MEPS. These would include families consisting
solely of: immigrants; persons leaving the military; U.S. citizens returning from residence in another
country; and persons leaving institutions. It should be noted that this set of uncovered persons
constitutes only a tiny proportion of the MEPS target population
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4.0 Strategies for Estimation
This file is constructed for efficient estimation of utilization, expenditure, and sources of payment for
home health provider events and to allow for estimates of number of persons with home health
provider utilization for 1997.
4.1 Variables with Missing Values
It is essential that the analyst examine all variables for the presence of negative values used to
represent missing values. For example, a record with a value of -8 for the variable HOSPITAL
indicates that whether or not this home health event was due to a hospitalization was reported as
unknown.
For continuous or discrete variables, where means or totals may be taken, it may be necessary to set
minus values to values appropriate to the analytic needs. That is, the analyst should either impute a
value or set the value to one that will be interpreted as missing by the computing language used. For
categorical and dichotomous variables, the analyst may want to consider whether to recode or impute
a value for cases with negative values or whether to exclude or include such cases in the numerator
and/or denominator when calculating proportions.
Methodologies used for the editing/imputation of expenditure variables (e.g., sources of payment, flat
fee, and zero expenditures) are described in Section 2.5.5.2.
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4.2 Basic Estimates of Utilization, Expenditure and Source of Payment
While the examples described below illustrate the use of event level data in constructing person-level
total expenditures, these estimates can also be derived from the person-level expenditure file unless
the characteristic of interest is event specific.
In order to produce national estimates related to home health independent provider events
(SELFAGEN=2), expenditure and sources of payment, the value in each record contributing to the
estimates must be multiplied by the weight (WTDPER97) contained on that record.
Example 1:
For example, the total number of home health independent provider events, for the civilian non-institutionalized population of the U.S. in 1997, is estimated as the sum of the weight (WTDPER97)
across all home health independent provider records. That is,
Sum of Wj=6,550,775 (1)
Example 2:
Various estimates can be produced based on specific variables and subsets of records. For example,
the estimate for the mean out-of-pocket payment per independent home health provider event should
be calculated as the weighted mean of the independent home health provider's bill paid by self/family.
That is,
X bar =(Sum of WjXj) / (Sum of Wj)= $389.96, (2)
where Wj = 6,262,723 and Xj = HHSF97Xj
for all independent home health provider records (SELFAGEN=2) with HHXP97Xj > 0.
This gives $389.96 as the estimated mean amount of out-of-pocket payment of expenditures
associated with home health events by independent providers and 6,262,723 as an estimate of the total
number of home health events by independent providers with expenditure. Both of these estimates
are for the civilian non-institutionalized population of the U.S. in 1997.
Example 3:
Another example would be to estimate the average proportion of total expenditures paid by private
insurance for home health events by independent providers. This should be calculated as the weighted
mean of proportion of total expenditures paid by private insurance at the home health event level.
That is
Y bar =(Sum of WjYj) / (Sum of Wj)=0.0827, (3)
where Sum of Wj=6,262,723 and Yj=HHPV97Xj/HHXP97Xj for all independent home health provider records (SELF AGEN=2) with HHXP97Xj>0.
This gives 0.0827 as the estimated mean proportion of total expenditures paid by private insurance
for home health events by independent providers with expenditures for the civilian non-institutionalized population of the U.S. in 1997.
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4.3 Estimates of the Number of Persons with Home Health Events Due to a
Hospitalization
When calculating an estimate of the total number of persons with home health events by independent
providers, users can use a person-level file (MEPS HC-020: Person-level Expenditures and
Utilization) or the current file. However, the current file must be used, when the measure of interest
is defined at the event level. For example, to estimate the number of home health events where
services were provided due to a hospitalization, the current file must be used. This would be
estimated as,
Sum of WiXi across all unique persons i on this file, (4)
where
Wi is the sampling weight (WTDPER97) for person i
and
Xi = 1 if HOSPITAL EQ 1 for any events for person i
= 0 otherwise.
Return To Table Of Contents
4.4 Person-Based Ratio Estimates
4.4.1 Person-Based Ratio Estimates Relative to Persons with Home Health Events
by Independent Providers
This file may be used to derive person-based ratio estimates. However, when calculating ratio
estimates where the denominator is persons, care should be taken to properly define the unit of
analysis up to person-level. For example, the mean expense for persons with home health events by
independent providers (SELFAGEN=2) is estimated as
(Sum of WiZi) / (Sum of Wi) across all unique persons i on this file, (5)
where
Wi is the sampling weight(WTDPER97) for person i
and
SELFAGEN=2
and
Zi = Sum of HHXP96Xj across all events for person
i.
Return To Table Of Contents
4.4.2 Person-Based Ratio Estimates Relative to the Entire Population
If the ratio relates to the entire population, this file cannot be used to calculate the denominator, as
only those persons with at least one home health provider event are represented on this data file. In
this case MEPS File HC-020, which has data for all sampled persons, must be used to estimate the
total number of persons (i.e. those with events and those without events). For example, to estimate
the proportion of civilian non-institutionalized population of the U.S. with at least one home health
event by an independent provider, the numerator would be derived from data on the current file, and
the denominator should be derived from data on the MEPS HC-011 person-level file. That is,
(Sum of WiZi) / (Sum of Wi) across all unique persons i on the MEPS HC-020 file, (6)
where
Wi is the sampling weight(WTDPER97) for person i
and
Zi = 1 if SELFAGENj EQ 2 for any events of person i on the home health provider
events file
= 0 otherwise for all remaining persons on the MEPS HC-020 file.
Return To Table Of Contents
4.5 Sampling Weights for Merging Previous Releases of MEPS Household Data
with the Current Data File
There have been several previous releases of MEPS Household Survey public use data. Unless a
variable name common to several tapes is provided, the sampling weights contained on these data
files are file-specific. The file-specific weights reflect minor adjustments to eligibility and response
indicators due to birth, death, or institutionalization among respondents.
For estimates from a MEPS data file that do not require merging with variables from other MEPS data
files, the sampling weight(s) provided on that data file are the appropriate weight(s). When merging
a MEPS Household data file to another, the major analytical variable (i.e., the dependent variable)
determines the correct sampling weight to use.
Return To Table Of Contents
4.6 Variance Estimation
To obtain estimates of variability (such as the standard error of sample estimates or corresponding
confidence intervals) for estimates based on MEPS survey data, one needs to take into account the
complex sample design of MEPS. Various approaches can be used to develop such estimates of
variance including use of the Taylor series or various replication methodologies. Replicate weights
have not been developed for the MEPS 1997 data. Variables needed to implement a Taylor series
estimation approach are described in the paragraph below.
Using a Taylor Series approach, variance estimation strata and the variance estimation PSUs within
these strata must be specified. The corresponding variables on the MEPS full year utilization
database are VARSTR97 and VARPSU97, respectively. Specifying a "with replacement" design in
a computer software package such as SUDAAN (Shah, 1996) should provide standard errors
appropriate for assessing the variability of MEPS survey estimates. It should be noted that the
number of degrees of freedom associated with estimates of variability indicated by such a package
may not appropriately reflect the actual number available. For MEPS sample estimates for
characteristics generally distributed throughout the country (and thus the sample PSUs), there are over
100 degrees of freedom associated with the corresponding estimates of variance. The following
illustrates these concepts using two examples from Section 4.2.
Example 2 from Section 4.2
Using a Taylor series approach, specifying VARSTR97 and VARPSU97 as the variance estimation
strata and PSUs (within these strata) respectively and specifying a "with replacement" design in the
computer software package SUDAAN will yield an estimate of standard error of $85.51 for the
estimated mean of out-of-pocket payment.
Example 3 from Section 4.2
Using a Taylor Series approach, specifying VARSTR97 and VARPSU97 as the variance estimation
strata and PSUs (within these strata) respectively and specifying a "with replacement" design in the
computer software package SUDAAN will yield an estimate of standard error of 0.0399 for the
weighted mean proportion of total expenditures paid by private insurance.
Return To Table Of Contents
5.0 Merging/Linking MEPS Data Files
Data from this file can be used alone or in conjunction with other files. This section provides
instructions for linking the 1997 home health provider events with other 1997 MEPS public use files,
including the 1997 conditions file, the 1997 prescribed medicines file, and a 1997 person-level file.
5.1 Linking a 1997 Person-Level File to the 1997 Home Health Provider Event File
Merging characteristics of interest from other 1997 MEPS files (e.g., the 1997 Full Year Population
Characteristics File or the 1997 Prescribed Medicines File) expands the scope of potential estimates.
For example, to estimate the total number of home health provider events of persons with specific
characteristics (e.g., age, race, and sex), population characteristics from a person-level file need to be
merged onto the home health provider file. This procedure is illustrated below. The 1997 Appendix
File provides additional details on how to merge 1997 MEPS data files.
1. Create data set PERS by sorting a Full Year Population Characteristics File, (file
HCXXX), by the person identifier, DUPERSID. Keep only variables to be merged
on to the home health provider event file and DUPERSID.
2. Create data set HVIS by sorting the home health provider event file by person
identifier, DUPERSID.
3. Create final date set NEWHVIS by merging these two files by DUPERSID, keeping
only records on the home health provider event file.
The following is an example of SAS code which completes these steps:
PROC SORT DATA=HCXXX(KEEP=DUPERSID AGE SEX RACEX)
OUT=PERSX;
BY DUPERSID;
RUN;
PROC SORT DATA=HVIS;
BY DUPERSID;
RUN;
DATA NEWHVIS;
MERGE HVIS (IN=A) PERSX(IN=B);
BY DUPERSID;
IF A;
RUN;
Return To Table Of Contents
5.2 Linking the 1997 Home Health Provider Event file to the 1997 Medical
Conditions File and/or the 1997 Prescribed Medicines File
Due to survey design issues, there are limitations/caveats that an analyst must keep in mind when
linking the different files. This limitations/caveats are listed below. For detailed linking examples
including SAS code, analyst should refer to the 1997 Appendix file.
Return To Table Of Contents
5.3 Limitations/Caveats of RXLK (the 1997 Prescribed Medicine Link File)
The RXLK file provides a link from the 1997 prescribed medicine records to the other 1997 event
files. When using RXLK, analysts should keep in mind that one home health event can link to more
than one prescribed medicine record. Conversely, a prescribed medicine event may link to more than
one home health event or different types of events. When this occurs, it is up to the analyst to
determine how the prescribed medicine expenditures should be allocated among those medical events.
Return To Table Of Contents
5.4 Limitations/Caveats of CLNK (the 1997 Medical Conditions Link File)
The CLNK provides a link from 1997 MEPS event files to the 1997 Medical Conditions File. When
using the CLNK, analysts should keep in mind that (1) conditions are self-reported and (2) there may
be multiple conditions associated with a home health provider event. Users should also note that not
all home health provider events link to the condition file.
Return To Table Of Contents
References
Cohen, S.B. (1998). Sample Design of the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Medical Provider Component. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. Vol 24, 25-53.
Cohen, S.B. (1997). Sample Design of the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household
Component. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; 1997. MEPS
Methodology Report, No. 2. AHCPR Pub. No. 97-0027.
Cohen, J.W. (1997). Design and Methods of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household
Component. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; 1997. MEPS
Methodology Report, No. 1. AHCPR Pub. No. 97-0026.
Cohen, S.B. (1996). The Redesign of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: A Component of the
DHHS Survey Integration Plan. Proceedings of the COPAFS Seminar on Statistical Methodology
in the Public Service.
Cox, B.G. and Cohen, S.B. (1985). Chapter 8: Imputation Procedures to Compensate for Missing
Responses to Data Items. In Methodological Issues for Health Care Surveys. Marcel Dekker, New
York.
Moeller J.F., Stagnitti, M., Horan, E., et al. Data Collection and Editing Procedures for Prescribed
Medicines in the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component. Rockville (MD):
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2000. MEPS Methodology Report (forthcoming).
Monheit, A.C., Wilson, R., and Arnett, III, R.H. (Editors). Informing American Health Care Policy.
(1999). Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco.
Shah, B.V., Barnwell, B.G., Bieler, G.S., Boyle, K.E., Folsom, R.E., Lavange, L., Wheeless, S.C.,
and Williams, R. (1996). Technical Manual: Statistical Methods and Algorithms Used in SUDAAN
Release 7.0, Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute.
Return To Table Of Contents
Attachment 1
Definitions
Dwelling Units, Reporting Units, Families, and Persons The definitions of Dwelling Units (DUs)
and Group Quarters in the MEPS Household Survey are generally consistent with the definitions
employed for the National Health Interview Survey. The dwelling unit ID (DUID) is a five-digit
random ID number assigned after the case was sampled for MEPS. The person number (PID)
uniquely identifies all persons within the dwelling unit. The variable DUPERSID is the combination
of the variables DUID and PID.
A Reporting Unit (RU) is a person or a group of persons in the sampled dwelling unit who is related
by blood, marriage, adoption or other family association, and who is to be interviewed as a group in
MEPS. Thus, the RU serves chiefly as a family-based "survey operations" unit rather than an analytic
unit. Regardless of the legal status of their association, two persons living together as a "family" unit
were treated as a single reporting unit if they chose to be so identified.
Unmarried college students under 24 years of age, who usually live in the sampled household but
were living away from home and going to school at the time of the Round 1 MEPS interview, were
treated as a Reporting Unit separate from that of their parents for the purpose of data collection.
These variables can be found on MEPS person-level files.
In-ScopeA person was classified as in-scope (INSCOPE) if he or she was a member of the U.S.
civilian, non-institutionalized population at some time during the Round 1 interview. This variable
can be found on MEPS person-level files.
KeynessThe term "keyness" is related to an individual's chance of being included in MEPS. A
person is key if that person is appropriately linked to the set of NHIS sampled households designated
for inclusion in MEPS. Specifically, a key person either was a member of an NHIS household at the
time of the NHIS interview or became a member of such a household after being out-of-scope prior
to joining that household (examples of the latter situation include newborns and persons returning
from military service, persons returning from an institution, or persons living outside the United
States).
A non-key person is one whose chance of selection for the NHIS (and MEPS) was associated with
a household that was eligible but not sampled for the NHIS, who happened to have become a member
of a MEPS reporting unit by the time of the MEPS Round 1 interview. MEPS data, (e.g., utilization
and income) were collected for the period of time a non-key person was part of the sampled unit to
permit family level analyses. However, non-key persons who leave a sample household would not
be recontacted for subsequent interviews. Non-key individuals are not part of the target sample used
to obtain person-level national estimates.
It should be pointed out that a person may be key even though not part of the civilian, non-institutionalized portion of the U.S population. For example, a person in the military may be living
with his or her civilian spouse and children in a household sampled for the NHIS. The person in the
military would be considered a key person for MEPS. However, such a person would not receive a
person-level sample weight so long as he or she was in the military. All key persons who participated
in the first round of a MEPS panel received a person-level sample weight except those who were in
the military. The variable indicating "keyness" is KEYNESS. This variable can be found on MEPS
person-level files.
EligibilityThe eligibility of a person for MEPS pertains to whether or not data were to be collected
for that person. All key, in-scope persons of a sampled RU were eligible for data collection. The only
non-key persons eligible for data collection were those who happened to be living in the same RU as
one or more key persons, and their eligibility continued only for the time that they were living with
a key person. The only out-of-scope persons eligible for data collection were those who were living
with key in-scope persons, again only for the time they were living with a key person. Only military
persons meet this description. A person was considered eligible if they were eligible at any time
during Round 1. The variable indicating "eligibility" is ELIGRND1, where 1 is coded for persons
eligible for data collection for at least a portion of the Round 1 reference period, and 2 is coded for
persons not eligible for data collection at any time during the first round reference period. This
variable can be found on MEPS person-level files.
Pre-imputed - This means that only a series of logical edits were applied to the HC data to correct
for several problems including outliers, co-payments or charges reported as total payments, and
reimbursed amounts counted as out-of-pocket payments. Missing data remains.
Unimputed - This means that only a series of logical edits were applied to the MPC data to correct
for several problems including outliers, co-payments or charges reported as total payments, and
reimbursed amounts counted as out-of-pocket payments. These data were used as the imputation
source to account for missing HC data.
Imputation - A method of estimating values for cases with missing data. Hot-deck imputation
creates a data set with complete data for all nonrespondent cases, by substituting the data from a
respondent case that resembles the nonrespondent on certain known variables.
Return To Table Of Contents
D. Codebooks
(link to separate file)
E. Variable-Source Crosswalk
FOR MEPS HC-016H: 1997 HOME HEALTH EVENTS PUBLIC USE FILE
RELEASE
File 1:
Survey Administration Variables - Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
DUID |
Dwelling unit ID (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
PID |
Person number (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
DUPERSID |
Sample person ID (DUID + PID) (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
EVNTIDX |
Event ID (encrypted) |
Assigned in Sampling |
|
EVENTRN |
Event round number |
CAPI derived |
|
FFEEIDX |
Flat fee ID (encrypted) |
CAPI Derived |
Return To Table Of Contents
Home Health Events Variables - Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
HHBEGYR |
Event start date – year |
EV04/EV05 |
|
HHBEGMM |
Event start date – month |
EV04/EV05 |
|
MPCELIG |
MPC eligibility flag |
Constructed |
|
SELFAGEN |
Does provider work for agency or self |
EV06A |
|
HHTYPE |
Home health event type |
EV06 |
|
CNA |
Type of health care worker – certified nurse assistant |
HH01 |
|
COMPANN |
Type of health care worker – companion |
HH01 |
|
DIETICN |
Type of health care worker – dietitian/nutritionist |
HH01 |
|
HHAIDE |
Type of health care worker – home health/home care aide |
HH01 |
|
HOSPICE |
Type of health care worker – hospice worker |
HH01 |
|
HMEMAKER |
Type of health care worker- homemaker |
HH01 |
|
IVTHP |
Type of health care worker – IV or infusion therapist |
HH01 |
|
MEDLDOC |
Type of health care worker – medical doctor |
HH01 |
|
NURPRACT |
Type of health care worker – nurse/nurse practitioner |
HH01 |
|
NURAIDE |
Type of health care worker – nurse’s aide |
HH01 |
|
OCCUPTHP |
Type of health care worker – occupational therapist |
HH01 |
|
PERSONAL |
Type of health care worker – personal care attendant |
HH01 |
|
PHYSLTHP |
Type of health care worker – physical therapist |
HH01 |
|
RESPTHP |
Type of health care worker – respiratory therapist |
HH01 |
|
SOCIALW |
Type of health care worker – social worker |
HH01 |
|
SPEECTHP |
Type of health care worker – speech therapist |
HH01 |
|
OTHRHCW |
Type of health care worker – other |
HH01 |
|
NONSKILL |
Type of health care worker – non-skilled |
HH02 |
|
SKILLED |
Type of health care worker – skilled |
HH02 |
Return To Table Of Contents
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
SKILLWOS |
Specify type of skilled worker |
HH02 |
|
OTHCW |
Type of health care worker – some other type of health care worker |
HH02 |
|
OTHCWOS |
Specify other type of health care worker |
HH02 |
|
HOSPITAL |
Any home health care provider event due to hospitalization |
HH03 |
|
VSTRELCN |
Any home health care provider event related to a health condition |
HH04 |
|
TREATMT |
Person received medical treatment |
HH06 |
|
MEDEQUIP |
Person was taught how to use medical equipment |
HH07 |
|
DAILYACT |
Person was helped with daily activities |
HH08 |
|
COMPANY |
Person received companionship services |
HH09 |
|
OTHSVCE |
Person received other home health care services |
HH10 |
|
OTHSVCOS |
Specify other home health care service received |
HH10 |
|
FREQCY |
Provider helped person every week/some weeks |
HH11 |
|
DAYSPWK |
Number of days per week provider came (agency events only) |
HH12 |
|
DAYSPMO |
Number of days per month provider came (agency events only) |
HH13 |
|
HOWOFTEN |
Provider came once per day or more than once per day |
HH14 |
|
TMSPDAY |
Times per day provider came to home to help |
HH15 |
|
HRSLONG |
Hours each visit lasted |
HH16 |
|
MINLONG |
Minutes each visit lasted |
HH16 |
|
SAMESVCE |
Any other months person received services |
HH17 |
|
HHDAYS |
Number of days person received care per month for that event |
Constructed |
|
NUMCOND |
Number of condition records linked to this event |
Constructed |
Return To Table Of Contents
Imputed Expenditure Variables – Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
FFHHTYPX |
Flat fee bundle - stem or leaf indicator (edited) |
FF01 or FF02 (edited) |
FFTOT98 |
Total # of visits in flat fee after 1997 |
FF02 (edited) |
FFBEF97 |
Total number of visits in flat fee before 1997 |
FF05 |
|
HHSF97X |
Amount paid, family
note: rounded to cents |
CP11
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHMR97X |
Amount paid, Medicare
note: rounded to cents |
CP09
Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHMD97X |
Amount paid, Medicaid
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHPV97X |
Amount paid, private insurance
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHVA97X |
Amount paid, Veterans
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHCH97X |
Amount paid, CHAMPUS/CHAMPVA
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHOF97X |
Amount paid, other federal
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHSL97X |
Amount paid, non-federal government
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHWC97X |
Amount paid, worker’s compensation
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHOR97X |
Amount paid, other private
note: rounded to cents |
Constructed |
|
HHOU97X |
Amount paid, other public
note: rounded to cents |
Constructed |
|
HHOT97X |
Amount paid, other insurance
note: rounded to cents |
CP07
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
HHXP97X |
Sum of payments HHSF97X – HHOT97X
note: rounded to cents |
Constructed |
|
HHTC97X |
Total charge for visit
note: rounded to cents |
CP09
(Edited/Imputed) |
|
IMPHHSLF |
Imputation flag for HHSF97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHMCR |
Imputation flag for HHMR97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHMCD |
Imputation flag for HHMD97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHPRV |
Imputation flag for HHPV97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHVA |
Imputation flag for HHVA97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHCHM |
Imputation flag for HHCH97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHOFD |
Imputation flag for HHOF97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHSTL |
Imputation flag for HHSL97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHWCP |
Imputation flag for HHWC97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHOPR |
Imputation flag for HHOR97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHOPU |
Imputation flag for HHOU97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHOTH |
Imputation flag for HHOT97X |
Constructed |
|
IMPHHCHG |
Imputation flag for HHTC97X |
Constructed |
Return To Table Of Contents
Weights - Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
WTDPER97 |
Person weight full-year 1997 (poverty/mortality adjusted) |
Constructed |
|
VARPSU97 |
Variance estimation PSU 1997 |
Constructed |
|
VARSTR97 |
Variance estimation stratum, 1997 |
Constructed |
Return To Table Of Contents
File 2:
Survey Administration Variables - Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
DUID |
Dwelling unit ID (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
PID |
Person number (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
DUPERSID |
Sample person ID (DUID + PID) (encrypted) |
Assigned in sampling |
|
EVNTIDX |
Event ID (encrypted) |
Assigned in Sampling |
|
HHSFFIDX |
Household reported flat fee id (unedited) (encrypted) |
CAPI Derived |
Return To Table Of Contents
Pre-imputed Expenditure Variables
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
HHSF97H |
Amount paid, family (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP11 (Edited) |
|
HHMR97H |
Amount paid, Medicare (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP09 (Edited) |
|
HHMD97H |
Amount paid, Medicaid (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHPV97H |
Amount paid, private insurance (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHVA97H |
Amount paid, Veterans (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHCH97H |
Amount paid, CHAMPUS/CHAMPVA (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHOF97H |
Amount paid, other federal (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHSL97H |
Amount paid, non-federal government (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHWC97H |
Amount paid, worker’s compensation (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHOT97H |
Amount paid, other insurance (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHUC97H |
Amount paid, uncollected liability (pre-imputed) |
CP07 (Edited) |
|
HHTC97H |
Total charge (pre-imputed)
note: rounded to cents |
CP09 (Edited) |
Return To Table Of Contents
Weights – Public Use
|
Variable |
Description |
Source |
|
WTDPER97 |
Person weight full-year 1997 (poverty/mortality adjusted) |
Constructed |
|
VARSTR97 |
Variance estimation stratum, 1997 |
Constructed |
|
VARPSU97 |
Variance estimation PSU 1997 |
Constructed |
Return To Table Of
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