191733 MEPS Overview

Saturday, November 7, 2009: 9:15 AM

Jeffrey A. Rhoades, PhD , Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD
The purpose of this Institute is to facilitate the use of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 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, some examples of the type of research projects the MEPS data can support, and information on constructing analytic data files. 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, 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 files and linkage capabilities.

Learning Objectives:
1) Identify the scope of topics and analytic detail that can be examined with the MEPS data 2) Demonstrate an understanding of the structure and contents of different levels of files (i.e. person-, condition-, family-, and event-level files) 3) Identify the contents and features of the MEPS web site

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have worked on the MEPS survey for over 15 years and have served on the faculty of numerous workshops, have made over 20 MEPS related presentations at professional meetings and research organizations, and have either authored or co-authored 15 MEPS related articles and statistical briefs.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.