Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Public Use File Details

Update #3: 11/22/13

SPSS and STATA Programming Statements have been added.

Update #2: 12/13/02

The data user/analyst should note that the variable SURGPROC on the 1996 to 1999 Hospital Inpatient Stays event files is a different variable from the one with the same name on the 1996 to 1999 Emergency Room Visits, Office-Based Medical Provider Visits, and Outpatient Visits event files. This is indicated by the different labels and formatted values for these variables, which are as follows.

On the Hospital Inpatient Stays file:

SURGPROC has label = MAIN SURGICAL PROCEDURE, and these formatted values:

1 = APPENDECTOMY
2 = ARTHROSCOPIC SURGERY (VISUAL OF JOINTS
3 = CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION
4 = CATARACT SURGERY
5 = CIRCUMCISION
6 = CORONARY BYPASS
7 = D AND C (DILATION AND CURETTAGE)
8 = DENTAL SURGERY 3 33,266
9 = GALLBLADDER SURGERY (CHOLECYSTECTOMY
10 = HERNIA REPAIR
11 = HYSTERECTOMY
12 = JOINT (HIP/KNEE) REPLACEMENT SURGERY
13 = MASTECTOMY/LUMPECTOMY
14 = PACEMAKER INSERTION
15 = PLASTIC/RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY
16 = PROSTATE SURGERY (PROSTATECTOMY)
17 = SPINAL DISC SURGERY (SLIPPED/PROLAPSED)
18 = SURGICAL SETTING OF BROKEN BONE
19 = THYROID SURGERY (THYROIDECTOMY)
20 = TISSUE BIOPSY
21 = TONSILLECTOMY
91 = OTHER

On the Emergency Room Visits, Office-Based Medical Provider Visits, and Outpatient Visits event files:

SURGPROC has label = WAS SURG PROC PERFORMED ON P THIS VISIT, and formatted values:

1 = YES
2 = NO

NOTE: For the year 2000 set of event files, the variable SURGPROC will be renamed to MAINSURG on the Hospital Inpatient Stays File.

Update #1: 08/01/00

An updated version of File 1 of the HC-010D file was released on 8/1/00. This file is identical to the previous version with the exception of the condition variables (NUMCOND, evICDiX, evPROiX and evCCCiX), which were modified for a subset of records. At the present time users can obtain the correct set of linked condition variables for this file by using the updated condition-event link file provided as File 1 of the Appendix File, HC-010I, with the condition file, HC-006. See the HC-010I documentation for information on linking event files to the condition file.