MEPS-MPC-Hospital

OMB #: 0935-0108

What is the Medical Expenditure
Panel Survey?
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 National 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.
How are pharmacies chosen for the MEPS Pharmacy
Component?
Pharmacies were named by respondents in the
household data collection as sources of prescribed
drugs during 2005. These household respondents
signed HIPAA-compliant forms authorizing and
requesting each of their pharmacies to release
the information sought by the study.
Why should my pharmacy participate?
Prescription medicines are a major component of
health care costs. The information that you supply
will supplement that given by your customer and
help us build a more complete picture of health
care expenditures for respondents in our study.
Your customers have asked specifically for your
help by signing the authorization form.
What information is needed
from pharmacies?
For each of your customers on the enclosed
list, we need this information about their
2005 prescriptions:
„
„
Date filled
NDC code
„
Quantity dispensed „ Payment source(s)/Amounts

How do I know the information
will be kept confidential?
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 is made available to researchers. Findings are
published in statistical summaries and tables and
micro-data is released on “public use” data files.
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 pharmacy.
What questions will the data
collected answer?
MEPS data provide answers to many important
questions. For example:
„
How much of prescription costs are covered
by insurance?
„
What do people pay out of pocket
for medications?
„
What medicines are people receiving?
„
What types of medications are not covered
by insurance plans?

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.

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