AHRQ Views Blog: Measuring Americans' Healthcare Spending by Going Door to Door

AHRQ’s standing as the nation’s top resource on out-of-pocket healthcare spending would not be possible without the efforts of hundreds of field interviewers, according to a new blog post by Joel Cohen, Ph.D., director of the agency’s Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends. Those interviewers meet with thousands of families each year to produce the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which since 1996 has informed healthcare policy at state and national levels and has been the basis of more than 500 statistical briefs on topics ranging from out-of-pocket costs to dental visits to prescription drugs. MEPS is central to AHRQ’s plans for establishing an integrated data, analytics and information platform, one that will help policymakers have timely and accurate data and useful analytic resources to make informed policy decisions about the healthcare system. Access the blog post.