AHRQ Data Available Through Research Data Centers
The Center for Economic Studies (CES) is pleased to announce that the Census Bureau has reached agreement with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to make AHRQ's restricted Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data available to qualified researchers through the Census Research Data Center (RDC) network.

Proposals have been accepted by CES since July 1, 2007 to use AHRQ data sets. AHRQ has specified a proposal format on their data center website and will handle all proposal review and also disclosure avoidance review for their data; they have agreed to waive their fee for creating the researcher's data extract for RDC researchers. Standard Census RDC access charges, if any, will apply. Proposals to use their data at any site other than their headquarters site in Rockville MD will be submitted through the standard Census RDC proposal process, but will not have to meet Census Bureau standards, just AHRQ standards (see their website). (Proposals to use confidential data from both the Census Bureau and the AHRQ must use the existing Census Bureau application procedure, and will also be reviewed by AHRQ, and the Internal Revenue Service if tax data is involved.)

All researchers will need to become Special Sworn Status (SSS) employees of the Census Bureau -- in case of incidental access to confidential Census Bureau or Internal Revenue Service data while in an RDC -- and will also be required to become National Center for Health Statistics agents (as AHRQ data is based on the National Health Interview Survey), and take the appropriate training for both roles.

Researchers currently using the Rockville AHRQ data center will be able to transfer their research to a Census RDC site once they become SSS employees. Contact the appropriate Census RDC Administrator for more information on the SSS process.

For more information on the proposal process or the datasets, see the AHRQ data center web site at http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/onsite_datacenter.jsp

List of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Datasets that will be available:

  1. Household Component-Insurance Component linked file (1996-1999, 2001)
  2. Nursing Home Component (1996)
  3. Medical Provider Component (except directly identifiable data)
  4. Two-Year, Two-Panel Files
  5. Area Resource File (county-level data that can be linked to MEPS-HC)
  6. MEPS-HC Public Use Files
AHRQ will create a custom extract (e.g., merged analytic files with linking variables removed) for each project.

Please contact AHRQ at CFACTDC@AHRQ.HHS.GOV for complete details on additional non-public MEPS data available for RDC use. Other AHRQ confidential data files may be made available at a later date.  

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