National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study

At a glance

  • Learn what restricted data are available from the National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study.
  • Researchers interested in using these data must obtain approval through the NCHS Research Data Center.
Blue shield logo for the National Post-acute and Long-term Care Survey.

Overview

The National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study (NPALS) collects and analyzes data from U.S. providers serving people who need continuing care after urgent medical treatment (post-acute care) or who cannot care for themselves for a long period (long-term care). The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has conducted NPALS every two years since 2012.

Data

NCHS has produced restricted data files for the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 cycles of NPALS. These files are available for both NPALS surveys—the Adult Day Services Center (ADSC) survey and the Residential Care Community (RCC) survey.

NPALS was called the National Study of Long-Term Care Providers (NSLTCP) before 2020. Datasets from before 2020 use the study's original name.

Geographic data‎

Find information about restricted geographic data available from NPALS.

Data documentation

Information on data dictionaries for the NPALS ADSC and RCC restricted datasets is available on the NPALS website.