Key points
- The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) each release annual files.
- Linkage files allow users to link to people in both public use files.
- The MEPS sample design variables and weights must be used for any analysis.
About the data
The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ's) Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) each release annual files. The NHIS/MEPS linkage files are used to link a person's MEPS public use files to their previous NHIS public use file. Files can be linked beginning with the 1995 NHIS and the 1996 MEPS.
Each year's MEPS file contains only a subset of people from the previous NHIS core person file. Many of the NHIS files, particularly the sample adult file, will only match to a subset of the MEPS file. The resulting matched sample sizes may be small. The MEPS sample design variables (for variance estimation) and weights must be used for any analysis using a linked NHIS/MEPS file. MEPS weights must be adjusted to account for people who are in the MEPS files but not in the NHIS files.
Resources
AHRQ will provide access and user support services for the NHIS/MEPS linkage files. More information is available through the: