September 14, 2024

NAMCS Research Tools

Find resources to help researchers analyze recent data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS).
Access additional tools to support analysis of older NAMCS data in the CDC Archive.

Drug database

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

Users can search by a drug's—

Name
Generic name
Ingredients

Available drug characteristics including—

Therapeutic class
Composition status
Prescription status
Control status

These details can assist researchers who are analyzing drug information in NAMCS data. While the database includes totals and rates for drugs that are mentioned in 2015 NAMCS data, these estimates and rates do not apply to the general public.

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.