Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) - Letter of Support

July 25, 2022
Doris Lefkowitz
Reports Clearance Office
AHRQ
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
RE:

Federal Register notice of July 11, 2022, for the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality’s (AHRQ) Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Component (MEPSHC) (OMB Number: 0935-0118)

Dear Ms. Lefkowitz:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) strongly supports AHRQ’s updated questions related
to COVID-19 in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey--Household Component (MEPS-HC).
As the only government-administered nationally representative survey of this nature, the data
collected on the MEPS-HC form are invaluable components of BEA’s economic statistics. The
proposed questions related to COVID-19 in MEPS should not affect BEA’s use of the data and
may, in fact, enhance its use for research to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the
health of the U.S. population and of the economy.
BEA uses the following data from the MEPS-HC:
• Prescribed Medicines
• Office-Based Medical Provider Visits
• Outpatient Visits
• Emergency Room Visits
• Hospital Inpatient Stays
• Home Health
• Full Year Consolidated Data File
• Condition-Event Link File
On an annual basis, the Office of the Chief Economist uses MEPS-HC data to estimate diseasespecific spending for BEA’s Health Care Satellite Account (HCSA). BEA also uses the MEPSHC demographic information to create population weights for the HCSA. We expect the
COVID-19 pandemic to trigger dramatic changes to disease prevalence and health care spending,
as the peak of the pandemic spurred increased emergency visits, decreased in-person elective
visits, and increased use of cost saving telehealth visits. Consequently, the addition of COVID19 related questions will greatly benefit accurate measurements in the satellite account.

Please keep BEA informed of modifications to these forms. We are particularly interested in
modifications that are proposed during the forms’ approval process that might substantially
affect our use of the data collected through these forms. For additional information, please
contact Tiffany Burrell, Source Data Coordinator, on (301)278-9618, or by e-mail at
Tiffany.Burrell@bea.gov. Should you need assistance in justifying these forms to the Office of
Management and Budget, please do not hesitate to contact BEA.
Sincerely,

DENNIS FIXLER

Digitally signed by DENNIS
FIXLER
Date: 2022.07.29 11:52:08 -04'00'

Dennis Fixler
Chief Economist

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