LI Course
CE Hours: 6 contact hours

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of this Workshop is to facilitate the use of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS HC) public use data files by the health services research community. To meet this objective participants are provided with a general overview of the MEPS, a description of available data files, information about on-line data tools, and some examples of the type of research projects the MEPS data can support. In addition, attendees will be introduced to other Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality data sets such as the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) and the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). Major changes have taken place in the Nation's health care delivery system over the last decade. The most notable is the rapid expansion of managed care arrangements such as health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, and other provider networks that seek to minimize increases in health care costs. The MEPS is a vital national data resource designed to continually provide health service researchers, policymakers, health care administrators, businesses, and others with timely, comprehensive information about health care use and costs in the United States. Newly released MEPS public use files provide analysts with opportunities to create unique analytic files for policy relevant analysis in the field of health services research, such as access to care and health disparities. In order to capture the unparalleled scope and detail of the MEPS HC, analysts need to understand the complexities of MEPS data files and data file linkages. This workshop will provide the knowledge necessary to formulate research plans utilizing the various MEPS HC files and linkage capabilities.

Session Objectives: 1) Identify the scope of topics and analytic detail that can be achieved with the MEPS HC 2) List advantages and disadvantages of using MEPS data files 3) Demonstrate an understanding of the structure and contents of different levels of files (i.e. person-, condition-, family-, and event-level files) 4) Identify the contents and features of the AHRQ web site as it relates to MEPS and other Agency data sources

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing