NAMCS Research Tools

Drug database

The Ambulatory Care Drug Database is a query system researchers can use to look up drugs mentioned in National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data.

Users can search by a drug's—

• Name
• Generic name
• Ingredients
• Characteristics

Available drug characteristics include—

• Therapeutic class
• Composition status
• Prescription status
• Control status

Researchers can also use the database to identify drug codes that can help with the analysis of NAMCS drug data.

Consumer information about specific drugs is available from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' searchable drug database. That system provides information about specific drugs, including their prescription uses, their side effects, and special precautions that must be taken when using them.

Diagnosis Master Category List

The Diagnosis Master Category List (DMCL) is used to classify diagnosis codes into clinically meaningful categories. The codes can be used to analyze data across inpatient and ambulatory settings. The DMCL classification scheme is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). NAMCS summary web tables have used the DMCL classification since 2016 NAMCS.

More resources

The National Center for Health Statistics provides researchers with a variety of tools, data, and information to assist them in using NAMCS data. Tools and information from previous years are available to help further research. The tools and information linked in this section can assist with analyzing older NAMCS datasets. These resources are available from the CDC Archive.

• Analytical notes about expected sources of payment
• Reliability of NAMCS and NHAMCS Estimates
• SAS Code to Produce Aggregated Visit Statistics at the Physician or Facility Level
• Trend Analysis Using NAMCS and NHAMCS Drug Data

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