MEPS HC-098: MEPS Panel 9 Longitudinal Data File
February 2008
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 Survey Management and Data Collection
C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
2.0 Data File Information
2.1 Variables
2.1.1 Variables from Annual Full-Year Consolidated Files
2.1.2 Constructed Variables for Selection of Analytic Group Files
2.1.3 Estimation Variables
A. Data Use Agreement
Individual identifiers have been removed
from the micro-data contained in these files. 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; and
- 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; and
- 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 Title 18 part 1 Chapter 47 Section 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
1.0 Household Component
The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) provides nationally
representative estimates of health care use, expenditures, sources of
payment, and health insurance coverage for the U.S. civilian
non-institutionalized population. The MEPS Household Component (HC) also
provides estimates of respondents’ health status, demographic and
socio-economic characteristics, employment, access to care, and
satisfaction with health care. Estimates can be produced for
individuals, families, and selected population subgroups. The panel
design of the survey, which includes 5 Rounds of interviews covering 2
full calendar years, provides data for examining person level changes in
selected variables such as expenditures, health insurance coverage, and
health status. Using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI)
technology, information about each household member is collected, and
the survey builds on this information from interview to interview. All
data for a sampled household are reported by a single household
respondent.
The MEPS-HC was initiated in 1996. Each year a new panel of sample
households is selected. Because the data collected are comparable to
those from earlier medical expenditure surveys conducted in 1977 and
1987, it is possible to analyze long-term trends. Each annual MEPS-HC
sample size is about 15,000 households. Data can be analyzed at either the person or
event level. Data must be weighted to produce national estimates.
The set of households selected for each panel of the MEPS HC is a
subsample of households participating in the previous year’s National
Health Interview Survey (NHIS) conducted by the National Center for
Health Statistics. The NHIS sampling frame provides a nationally
representative sample of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized
population and reflects an oversample of blacks and Hispanics. MEPS
oversamples additional policy relevant sub-groups such as Asians and low
income households. The linkage of the MEPS to the previous year's NHIS
provides additional data for longitudinal analytic purposes.
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2.0 Medical Provider Component
Upon completion of the household CAPI interview and obtaining permission
from the household survey respondents, a sample of medical providers are
contacted by telephone to obtain information that household respondents
can not accurately provide. This part of the MEPS is called the Medical
Provider Component (MPC) and information is collected on dates of visit,
diagnosis and procedure codes, charges and payments. The Pharmacy
Component (PC), a subcomponent of the MPC, does not collect charges or
diagnosis and procedure codes but does collect drug detail information,
including National Drug Code (NDC) and medicine name, as well as date
filled and sources and amounts of payment. The MPC is not designed to yield
national estimates. It is primarily used as an imputation source to
supplement/replace household reported expenditure information.
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3.0 Survey Management and Data Collection
MEPS HC and MPC data are collected under the authority of the Public
Health Service Act. Data are collected under contract with Westat,
Inc. Data sets and summary statistics are edited and published in
accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the Public Health
Service Act and the Privacy Act. The National Center for Health
statistics (NCHS) provides consultation and technical assistance.
MEPS HC and MPC data are collected under the authority of the Public
Health Service Act. Data are collected under contract with Westat,
Inc. Data sets and summary statistics are edited and published in
accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the Public Health
Service Act and the Privacy Act. The National Center for Health
statistics (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,
micro data files, and tables via the MEPS web site:
www.meps.ahrq.gov
Selected data can be analyzed through MEPSnet, an on-line interactive
tool designed to give data users the capability to statistically analyze
MEPS data in a menu-driven environment.
Additional information on MEPS is available from the MEPS project manager
or the MEPS public use data manager at the Center for Financing Access and
Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road,
Rockville, MD 20850 (301-427-1406).
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C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
For MEPS Panels 1-8, longitudinal weight files that were released contained a
limited number of variables that could be merged with data from two
consecutive full-year consolidated files to create a longitudinal file
for analysis. Beginning with Panel 9, AHRQ is replacing the
longitudinal weight files with more complete and analytically useful
panel-specific files that contain the variables from the consolidated
full-year files.
This documentation describes the Panel 9 longitudinal data file from the
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC).
Released as an ASCII file (with related SAS and SPSS programming
statements and data use information) and a SAS transport dataset, this
public use file provides information collected on a nationally
representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of
the United States for the two-year period 2004-05. The file contains
3,131 variables and has a logical record length of 8,535 with an
additional 2-byte carriage return/line feed at the end of each record.
This file consists of MEPS survey data obtained in Rounds 1-5 of MEPS Panel 9
and can be used to analyze changes over a two-year period. Variables in the
file pertaining to survey administration, demographics, employment,
health status, disability days, quality of care, patient satisfaction,
health insurance and medical care use and expenditures were obtained
from the MEPS 2004 and 2005 Full-Year Consolidated Files (HC-089 and
HC-097, respectively).
The following documentation offers a brief overview
of the contents and structure of the files and programming information.
A codebook of all the variables included in the Panel 9 data file is
provided in a separate file (H98CB.PDF). A database of all MEPS products
released to date and a variable locator indicating the major MEPS data
items on public use files that have been released to date can be found
on the MEPS Web site: www.meps.ahrq.gov.
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2.0 Data File Information
This public use file contains records for the 16,112 persons in Panel
9 for whom interview data were obtained for all rounds they were
in-scope (i.e., a member of the civilian non-institutionalized
population) for the survey. Although data are available for all five
rounds for more than 90% of the cases, 1,482 persons on the file do not
have data for one or more rounds. These persons are those who were born,
died, were in the military or an institution, or left the country during
the two-year period. In constrast, persons in the panel who participated
in the survey for only part of the period they were in-scope are not
included in this file. To compensate for this attrition, adjustments
were made in the construction of the panel weight variable included in
this file (LONGWT). The codebook provides both weighted and unweighted
frequencies for each variable on the data file. The LONGWT variable
should be used to produce national estimates for the two-year period.
Each MEPS panel can be linked back to the previous years National
Health Interview Survey public use data files. For information on
obtaining MEPS/NHIS link files please see
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/more_info_download_data_files.jsp.
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2.1 Variables
2.1.1 Variables from Annual Full-year Consolidated Files
Most variables on this file were obtained from the
MEPS 2004 and 2005 Full-Year Consolidated Files (HC-089 and HC-097,
respectively). However, names for time dependent variables from these
files were modified in order to: 1) eliminate duplicate variable names
for data reflecting different time periods during the panel, and 2)
standardize variable names to facilitate pooling of multiple MEPS panels
for analysis [1].
Generally, annual variables with a suffix of “04” and “05” are renamed
with a suffix of “Y1” and “Y2”, respectively. Variables with a suffix of
“31”, “42”, and “53” are renamed with a suffix denoting the round the
data was collected (i.e., “1” , “2” or “3” for variables originating
from Rounds 1-3 on the 2004 full-year file and “3”, “4”, or “5” for
variables originating from Rounds 3-5 on the 2005 full-year file)
[2]. It is necessary to use this crosswalk in conjunction with
documentation for the 2004 and 2005 full-year consolidated files to
obtain a full description of variables on this file. Table 1 below
provides the crosswalk summarizing the scheme used for renaming
variables from the annual files.
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Table 1: Crosswalk of Variable Names between the
Full-Year Consolidated files and the Longitudinal File
| Type of Variable |
Full-Year Consolidated File Variable Name Suffix |
Longitudinal File Variable Name Suffix |
Specific cases or examples |
Constant (i.e., not round or year specific) |
No suffixes |
No suffixes |
All variables:
DOBMM=DOBMM
DOBYY=DOBYY
DUID=DUID
PID=PID
DUPERSID=DUPERSID
EDUCYEAR=EDUCYR (2004 only)
EDUCYR=EDUCYR (2005 only)
HIDEGYR=HIDEG (2004 only)
HIDEG=HIDEG (2005 only)
HISPANX=HISPANX
HISPCAT=HISPCAT
INTVLANG=INTVLANG
RACEAX=RACEAX
RACEBX=RACEBX
RACEWX=RACEWX
RACEX=RACEX
RACETHNX=RACETHNX
SEX=SEX
VARPSU=VARPSU
VARSTR=VARSTR
VETGULF=VETGULF (2004 only)
VETKOR=VETKOR (2004 only)
VETOTH=VETOTH (2004 only)
VETVIET=VETVIET (2004 only)
VETWW=VETWW (2004 only)
DIDSERVE=DIDSERVE (2004 only) |
Annual, family related variables |
YR |
Y1 or YR1
Y2 or YR2 |
All variables:
FAMIDYR=FAMIDYR1 (2004 file)
FAMRFPYR=FAMRFPY1 (2004 file)
FAMSZEYR=FAMSZEY1 (2004 file)
FAMIDYR=FAMIDYR2 (2005 file)
FAMRFPYR=FAMRFPY2 (2005 file)
FAMSZEYR=FAMSZEY2 (2005 file) |
Annual, CPS family identifiers |
No suffix |
Y1
Y2 |
All variables:
CPSFAMID= CPSFAMY1 (2004)
CPSFAMID= CPSFAMY2 (2005) |
Annual,
health insurance eligibility units |
No suffix |
Y1
Y2 |
All variables:
HIEUIDX=HIEUIDY1 (2004)
HIEUIDX=HIEUIDY2 (2005) |
Annual, inscope variables |
No suffixes |
YR1
YR2 |
All variables:
INSCOPE=INSCPYR1 (2004 file)
INSCOPE=INSCPYR2 (2005 file)
|
12/31 status variables |
1231 in 2004 file
1231 in 2005 file |
Y1
Y2 |
All variables:
FAMS1231=FAMSY1 (2004 file)
FCRP1231=FCRPY1 (2004 file)
FCSZ1231= FCSZY1 (2004 file)
FMRS1231= FMRSY1 (2004 file)
INSC1231=INSCY1 (2004 file)
FAMS1231=FAMSY2 (2005 file)
FCRP1231=FCRPY2 (2005 file)
FCSZ1231= FCSZY2 (2005 file)
FMRS1231= FMRSY2 (2005 file)
INSC1231=INSCY2 (2005 file) |
Annual |
04, 04X, 04F, or 04C
05, 05X, 05F, or 05C |
Y1, Y1X, Y1F, or Y1C
Y2, Y2X, Y2F, or Y2C |
Example:
TOTEXP04=TOTEXPY1 (2004 file)
TOTEXP05=TOTEXPY2 (2005 file) |
Variables for health insurance prior to January 1, 2004
(data collected in round 1 only) |
No suffixes |
No suffixes |
All variables:
PREVCOVR=PREVCOVR
COVRMM=COVRMM
COVRYY=COVRYY
WASESTB=WASESTB
WASMCARE=WASMCARE
WASMCAID=WASMCAID
WASCHAMP=WASCHAMP
WASVA=WASVA
WASPRIV=WASPRIV
WASOTGOV=WASOTGOV
WASAFDC=WASAFDC
WASSSI=WASSSI
WASSTAT1=WASSTAT1
WASSTAT2=WASSTAT2
WASSTAT3=WASSTAT3
WASSTAT4=WASSTAT4
WASOTHER=WASOTHER
NOINSBEF=NOINSBEF
NOINSTM=NOINSTM
NOINUNIT=NOINUNIT
MORECOVR=MORECOVR
INSENDMM=INSENDMM
INSENDYY=INSENDYY |
Annual |
No suffixes [3] |
Y1
Y2 |
All variables:
KEYNESS=KEYNESY1 (2004 file)
SAQELIG=SAQELIY1 (2004 file)
EVRWRK=EVRWRKY1 (2004 file)
EVRETIRE=EVRETIY1 (2004 file)
EVRUNAT=EVRUNAY1 (2004 file)
EVRUNINS=EVRUINY1 (2004 file)
KEYNESS=KEYNESY2 (2005 file)
SAQELIG=SAQELIY2 (2005 file)
EVRWRK=EVRWRKY2 (2005 file)
EVRETIRE=EVRETIY2 (2005 file)
EVRUNAT=EVRUNAY2 (2005 file)
EVRUNINS=EVRUINY2 (2005 file) |
Monthly |
2-character month + 04
2-character month + 05 |
2-character month + Y1
2-character month + Y2 |
Example:
PRIJA04=PRIJAY1 (2004 file)
PRIJA05=PRIJAY2 (2005 file) |
Round Specific |
31 or 31X in 2004 file
42 or 42X in 2004 file
53 or 53X in 2004 file
31 or 31X in 2005 file
42 or 42X in 2005 file
53 or 53X in 2005 file |
1 or 1X for 2004
2 or 2X for 2004
3 or 3X for 2004
3 or 3X for 2005
4 or 4X for 2005
5 or 5X for 2005 |
Example:
RTHLTH31 = RTHLTH1 (2004 file)
RTHLTH42 =RTHLTH2 (2004 file)
RTHLTH53 =RTHLTH3 (2004 file if YRIND=2)
RTHLTH31 = RTHLTH3 (2005 file if YEARIND=1 or 3)
RTHLTH42 =RTHLTH4 (2005 file)
RTHLTH53 =RTHLTH5 (2005 file) |
Diabetes care eye exams |
DSExyy53 |
Y0R for 2003 data
Y1R for 2004 data
Y2R for 2005 data
Y3R for 2006 data |
All cases:
DSEB0353=DSEBY0R3 (2004 file)
DSEY0353=DSEY0R3 (2004 file)
DSEY0453=DSEY1R3 (2004 file)
DSEY0553=DSEY2R3 (2004 file)
DSEB0453=DSEBY1R5 (2005 file)
DSEY0453=DSEY1R5 (2005 file)
DSEY0553=DSEY2R5 (2005 file)
DSEY0653=DSEY3R5 (2005 file) |
Job Change |
3142
4253 |
12 for 2004
23 for 2004
34 for 2005
45 for 2005 |
All cases:
CHJ3142=CHJ12(2004 file)
CHJ4253=CHGJ23(2004 file)
YCHJ3142=YCHJ12(2004 file)
YCHJ4253=YCHGJ23(2004 file)
CHJ3142=CHGJ34 (2005 file)
CHJ4253=CHGJ45 (2005 file)
YCHJ3142=YCHGJ34 (2005 file)
YCHJ4253=YCHGJ45 (2005 file) |
[1]
A variable named PANEL is also included to facilitate pooling
across panels. This variable is simply the panel number and is
therefore constant across all records within a longitudinal file.
[2]
While round 3 values were obtained for most observations from the 2005
Full Year Consolidated File, they were obtained from the 2004 Full Year
Consolidated File for sample persons where YEARIND=2 (i.e., in 2004 only).
[3]
To maintain the 8-character naming convention, some variable names had
the last character or two dropped in the renaming process.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.1.2. Constructed Variables for Selection of Analytic Group
The following eight variables were constructed and
included on the file to facilitate the selection of appropriate cases
for various analyses. Table 2 below contains descriptive statistics for
these variables.
| YEARIND |
1=both years, 2=in 2004 only, and 3=in 2005 only |
| ALL5RDS |
Inscope and data collected in all 5 rounds (0=no, 1=yes) |
| DIED |
Died during the two-year survey period (0=no, 1=yes) |
| INST |
Institutionalized for some time during the two-year survey
period (0=no, 1=yes) |
| MILITARY |
Active duty military for some time during the two-year
survey period (0=no, 1=yes) |
| ENTRSRVY |
Entered survey after beginning of panel (mainly births; also
includes persons who had no initial chance of selection who
moved into a MEPS sample household) (0=no, 1=yes) |
| LEFTUS |
Moved out of the country after beginning of panel (0=no,
1=yes) |
| OTHER |
Not identified in any of the above analytic groups (0=no,
1=yes) |
Table 2: Frequencies and Percentage for Constructed Variables
| Variable |
Number of Records |
Percentage of Records (N=16,112) |
|
YEARIND=1 (i.e., person in both years) |
15,631 |
97.0 |
|
ALL5RDS=1 (yes) |
14,630 |
90.8 |
|
DIED=1 (yes) |
195 |
1.2 |
|
INST=1 (yes) |
94 |
0.6 |
|
MILITARY=1 (yes) |
45 |
0.3 |
|
ENTRSRVY=1 (yes) |
1,002 |
6.2 |
|
LEFTUS=1 (yes) |
94 |
0.6 |
|
OTHER=1 (yes) |
87 |
0.5 |
Following are examples of situations where these
variables would be useful in selecting records for analysis:
- Analysts interested in working only with
persons who were in-scope and had data for all five rounds of the
panel should subset to cases where ALL5RDS=1.
- If a researcher wanted to include persons who
were in-scope and had data for all five rounds of the panel as well
as those in the survey at the beginning of the panel who
subsequently died, then they would include cases where ALL5RDS=1 or
(ENTRSRVY=0 and DIED=1).
- If a researcher wanted to include persons who
were in-scope and had data for all five rounds of the panel as well
as those who died in the second year of the panel then they would
include cases where ALL5RDS=1 or (DIED=1 and YEARIND=1).
Return To Table Of Contents
2.1.3 Estimation Variables
Longitudinal Estimations for Panel 9
The file contains a weight variable (LONGWT) and
variance estimation variables (VARSTR, VARPSU) that should be applied
when producing national estimates for longitudinal analyses. For
example, LONGWT applied to the 14,630 cases where ALL5RDS=1 produces a
weighted population estimate of 272.7 million. This represents an
estimate of the number of persons in the civilian noninstitutionalized
population for the entire two-year period from 2004-05. 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 by specifying the estimation variables including stratum of sample
selection (VARSTR), primary sampling unit (VARPSU) and longitudinal
weight (LONGWT).
Pooled Estimations
For panels 1-6, each
MEPS longitudinal weight file was released with a variance structure
unique to the particular MEPS sample for that panel. When
analyzing subpopulations and/or low
prevalence events, it may be desirable to pool together more than one
panel of MEPS-HC data to yield sample sizes large enough to generate
reliable estimates. This file contains the variance estimation
variables (STRA9605, PSU9605) that should be applied when producing
esimates using any of the first six MEPS panels. STRA9605 and
PSU9605 reconcile the differences in the variance units between the
units on the released annual MEPS public use files. Refer to HC-036
Pooled Estimation File for more information.
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