Featured Case Study: Harvard and Stanford Researchers Used AHRQ Data To Analyze Utilization, Costs in Primary Care

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University used data from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to develop an instrument that gauges how workforce and financing changes may affect utilization, revenue and expenses in primary care practices. Access the case study.

MEPS Topics

Access to Health Care	Health Insurance	Prescription Drugs
Children's Health	Medical Conditions	Projected Data/Expenditures
Children's Insurance Coverage	Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP	Quality of Health Care
Elderly Health Care	Men's Health	State and Metro Area Estimates
Health Care Costs/Expenditures	Mental Health	The Uninsured
Health Care Disparities	Obesity	Women's Health

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What's New Highlights

New Publications
The MEPS-Insurance Component Chartbook 2015 describes trends in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, premiums and benefits, from 2003 to 2015. Results show that there was relatively slow growth in premiums from 2014 to 2015, continuing a pattern that started in 2011-12. Also, from 2014 to 2015, the overall percentage of employees enrolled in health insurance sponsored by their employer remained steady at about 48 percent, while in large firms (with 100 or more employees) the percentage of employees working in establishments that offered insurance increased from 97.3 to 98.8 percent. The Chartbook presents these and many other findings in easily accessible graphs and maps that facilitate comparison of long term trends, and that allow readers to visualize State-level data and other data previously released in tables.

"Mean expenses for persons age 65 and older with an expense ($10,890) were more than twice the amount for persons under age 65 ($4,430). " — From Statistical Brief 493: National Health Care Expenses Per Person in the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2014

New Data Files
The Appendix to MEPS 2014 Event Files (MEPS HC-168I) contains two data files. The first file is used for linking the MEPS 2014 condition file (HC-170) with the MEPS 2014 event files (HC-168A through HC-168H). The second file is used for linking the MEPS 2014 prescribed medicines event file (HC-168A) with other 2014 event files.

The 2014 Person Round Plan (PRPL) File (MEPS HC-169) contains records for persons insured through private establishments that provide hospital/physician, medigap, dental, vision, or prescription medication coverage. It also includes variables pertaining to managed care and experiences with health plans.

The 2014 Medical Conditions File (MEPS HC-170) provides household-reported medical conditions data collected on a nationally representative sample.

The 2014 Full Year Consolidated Data File (MEPS HC-171) consolidates all of the final 2014 person-level variables onto one file. This file contains demographic, health status, access to care, employment, quality of care, health insurance, income, and expenditure variables.

To access a list of all the latest items posted on our Web site, visit What's New.