MEPS-MPC-Home Health

OMB #: 0935-0108

What is the Medical Expenditure
Panel Survey?

How do I know the information will
be kept confidential?

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a
nationwide study conducted to learn more about the
health care services people use, the charges for those
services and the sources that pay for them. MEPS is
conducted annually by the U.S. Public Health Service
through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Major
components of MEPS include surveys of:
„
A nationally representative sample of households;
„
Hospitals, physicians, and pharmacies reported
by the household participants; and
„
Providers of health insurance.
MEPS is the most complete source of data available
on health care use and expenses in the United States.

All data is kept in strict confidence. The confidentiality of data collected for MEPS is protected by
Federal law under Sections 924(c) and 308(d) of
the Public Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 299c-3(c)
and 242m(d)]. Identifying information collected for
the study cannot be released without the permission of the individuals or establishments who
provided the information.
Personal identifying information such as names or
addresses are removed before information from the
study made available to researchers. Findings are
published in statistical summaries and tables and
micro-data is released on “public use” data files.

How are practices chosen for the MEPS
Office-Based Provider Component?
Office-based medical providers were named by
respondents in the household data collection as sources of
health care during 2005. These household respondents
signed HIPAA-compliant forms authorizing and requesting
each of their medical providers to release the information
sought by the study.
Why should this practice participate?
Office-based medical provider expenditures are a major
component of health care costs. The information that you
supply will supplement that given by your patient and help
us build a more complete picture of health care
expenditures for respondents in our study. Your patients
have asked specifically for your help by signing the
authorization form.
What information is needed from
office-based medical providers?

Who is collecting this data?
The U.S. Public Health Service has chosen Westat, a
national research company, to administer the study.
A professionally trained data collection specialist
from Westat will contact each practice .
What questions will the data
collected answer?
MEPS data provide answers to many important
questions. For example:
„
How much of medical costs are covered
by insurance?
„
What do people pay out of pocket for their
medical care?
„
What conditions are being treated by
office-based medical providers?
„
What types of health care services are people
receiving from office-based medical providers?

For each of the patients on the enclosed list, we need this
information about their 2005 medical events. For each
date of service, we will need:
„
Date of service
„
Diagnoses (ICD-9 or DSM-4 codes)
„
Services provided (CPT-4, or other relevant codes)
„
Full established charge
„
Method of reimbursement (fee-for-service
or capitated)
„
Payment sources/amounts.
M:\7690\7690.19.04\MPC 2005\Forms\OB\2005 OB Brochure.doc - 6/9/2006 - 2:33 PM - SH

Any further questions?
Please call toll-free, at
1-800-318-3843.
For direct access to information
about MEPS, go to
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov.