MEPS-HC Use and Expenditure Data

The proposed session will provide information regarding the details of the use, expenditure (both facility and separately billing doctors) and source of payment data, and other medical visit level information included on the eight MEPS public use event files produced annually: inpatient stays, emergency room, outpatient, office-based, dental visits, home health care, prescribed medicines, and other medical expenses. Summary person level use and expenditure variables and the appropriate use of weights, and how the use of weights, are mandatory for generating nationally and regionally representative estimates with MEPS data will be presented. The editing and imputation methodology used to provide healthcare expenditures will be discussed. In addition, the nuances of flat fees and zero payment events will be discussed. The proposed session will also provide information regarding the details of the medical conditions file. The session will focus on how the conditions data is collected and coded. Documentation and codebooks available for the public use files from the MEPS website will be demonstrated using Internet access. Participants will have the opportunity to have their specific research questions addressed through the use of live demonstration via the MEPS website.