This public use data file is one in a series of event-level public use data files from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC) and the Medical Provider Component (MPC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS, SPSS, and STATA programming statements and in SAS transport format, the Prescribed Medicines File provides detailed information on household-reported prescribed medicines for a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. This file consists of 1996 data obtained in Panel 1, Rounds 1, 2, and 3 of the survey and contains variables pertaining to household-reported prescribed medicines that were either purchased or obtained during the 1996 calendar year, including the name of prescribed medicine, NDC, quantity, form, strength, unit, expenditures, and diagnoses codes. For more information, see MEPS HC-014: 1996 MEPS HC Survey Data.
⚠ A problem was discovered with the linking between the MEPS Prescribed Medicines files and the Cerner Multum file that resulted in some incorrect therapeutic classes being assigned. The Multum Lexicon Addendum files (HC-068) contain the corrected therapeutic classes. Analysts should use caution when using the Cerner Multum therapeutic class variables for analysis and should always check for accuracy, because the Multum classification has been changed by the addition of new classes and subclasses, and by changes in the hierarchy of classes. See the documentation for the Multum Lexicon Addendum files for examples.
The Multum Lexicon Addendum files (HC-068) also contain an additional variable not in the 1996 through 2012 MEPS Prescribed Medicines files: the generic name of the drug most commonly used by prescribing physicians. Readme fileUpdate notes
Back
Email Updates
