Abstract #300389

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JSM 2003 Abstract #300389
Activity Number: 197
Type: Topic Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2003 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
Abstract - #300389
Title: Estimates of Medical Expenditures from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: Gains in Precision from Pooling Multiple Years of Data
Author(s): Steven R. Machlin*+
Companies: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Address: 6168 Breezewood Terrace, Rockville, MD, 20852,
Keywords: MEPS ; medical expenditures ; skewness
Abstract:

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a complex national probability survey of the civilian noninstitutionalized population that has been conducted on an annual basis since 1996. One of the primary purposes of the survey is to collect data that can be used to produce nationally representative estimates of medical expenditures (i.e., the amount paid for health care services). In addition to the complex sample design, factors that affect the precision of MEPS estimates of medical expenditures include the highly skewed distribution of medical expenses (e.g., in 1996 the top 1% of the population accounted for 27% of aggregate expenditures), the variability of the survey estimation weights, and the sample sizes for the analytic subgroups of interest. As a result of these factors, some point estimates for particular subgroups of the population may show substantial fluctuations from one year to the next that are not statistically significant. MEPS data can be pooled across years to reduce the level of sampling error and the annual fluctuations associated with expenditure estimates, and consequently expand the types of analyses possible.

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