New Public Use Data from AHRQ

Thanks to Uncle Sam, These data are available for investigators to analyze. All you need is a little technical savvy, some statistical know-how, and  plenty of curiosity.

MEPS Data:
MEPS HC-111: 2007 Person Round Plan Public Use file
Release Date: October 2009
This MEPS public use release is one in a series of data releases drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). This release contains the Person Round Plan (PRPL) file for 2007. This file contains records for persons insured through private establishments providing hospital/physician, medigap, dental, vision or prescription medication coverage and includes variables pertaining to managed care and experiences with plans. These are designed to facilitate research on the sometimes complex and dynamic relationships between consumers and their private insurance. Released as an ASCII file with SAS and SPSS programming statements, and in SAS  transport format, the PRPL file is not a person-level file and linking it to a MEPS full year person-level file requires users making analytic decisions based on understanding the complexity of the PRPL file. The data is on the MEPS Web site at:  http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-111

MEPS HC-110D: 2007 Hospital Inpatient Stays File
Release Date: October 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS format statements and in SAS transport format, the Hospital Inpatient Stays File provides detailed information on hospital inpatient stays. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of inpatient hospital stay utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, inpatient hospital stay reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2 and the 2008 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Hospital Inpatient Stays Public Use Data File is an event-level data file containing characteristics associated with the hospital inpatient stay event such as: the date of the hospital inpatient stay, reason for the stay, types of services received, condition(s) and procedure(s) associated with the hospital inpatient stay, whether or not medicines were prescribed and imputed expenditure data. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110D

MEPS HC-110A: 2007 Prescribed Medicines File
Release Date: October 2009
This file is one in a series of public use event files from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component  (MEPS-HC) and Medical Provider Component (MPC). Released as an ASCII data file and SAS transport file (with SAS and SPSS user statements) this public use file provides detailed information on household-reported prescribed medicines for a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of prescribed medicine utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one household-reported prescribed medicine that was purchased during calendar year 2007. These data were collected during the 2007 portion of Round 3 and Rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as Rounds 1, 2 and the 2008 portion of Round 3 for Panel 12 of the  MEPS-HC. Each record on this event file represents a unique prescribed medicine event; that is, a prescribed medicine reported as being purchased or otherwise obtained by the household respondent, and includes the following: an identifier for each unique prescribed medicine; detailed characteristics associated with the event (e.g., national drug code (NDC), medicine name, etc.); selected Multum Lexicon variables; conditions, if any, associated with the medicine; the date on which the person first used the medicine; total expenditure and sources of payments; types of pharmacies that filled the household's prescriptions; and a full-year person level weight. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110A

MEPS HC-110G: 2007 Office-Based Medical Provider Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use data file is one in a series of event-level public use data files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Medical Provider Visits File provides detailed information on office-based medical provider visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of office-based medical provider utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one household-reported office-based medical provider visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2, and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Office-Based Provider Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the office-based visit, such as, date of the visit, time spent with the provider, types of treatment and services received, types of medicine prescribed, condition codes, expenditures, source of payment associated with the visit and imputed expenditure variables. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110G

MEPS HC-110F: 2007 Outpatient Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Outpatient Visits File provides detailed information on outpatient visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of outpatient utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, outpatient visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2 and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Outpatient Visits Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the outpatient visit and imputed expenditure data such as the date of the visit, whether or not a doctor was seen, type of care received, type of services provided, expenditures and sources of payment, and imputed sources of payment. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: 
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110F

MEPS HC-110E: 2007 Emergency Room Visits File
Release Date: September 2009
This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files drawn from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS (and SPSS) program statements and in SAS transport format, the Emergency Room Visits File provides detailed information on emergency room visits. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of emergency room utilization and expenditures for calendar year 2007. Each record represents one, household-reported, emergency room visit reported during the 2007 portion of round 3 and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 11, as well as rounds 1, 2, and the 2007 portion of round 3 for Panel 12 of the survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2007). The Emergency Room Visits Public Use Data File contains characteristics associated with the emergency room visit, such as, the date of the visit, types of care and services received, types of medicine prescribed during the visit, condition codes, expenditures, and source of payment associated with the visit, and imputed expenditure variables. The data is on the MEPS Web site at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files_detail.jsp?cboPufNumber=HC-110E