Linked NCHS-Medicaid Data Files

• Activity Number: 475
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Jennifer D. Parker*+
• Companies: National Center for Health Statistics
• Keywords: Medicaid ; Record Linkage ; National Health Interview Survey

Abstract

The National Center for Health Statistics has linked many of its population health surveys to administrative records from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS). One collection of linked CMS administrative files is the 1999-2008 Medicaid Analytic eXtract, or MAX, files. Analyses using the linked files are complicated by several factors, including: 1) temporal relationships between the NCHS survey year and the MAX data years; 2) Medicaid program eligibility and enrollment, which can be non-continuous for a specific beneficiary and can differ across states and time; 3) linkage-eligibility requirements, including NCHS Ethics Review Board guidance on linkage of administrative records for child survey participants. Statistical approaches to address these issues can range from study design and analytic file construction to missing data methodologies and modeling. This presentation will discuss the strengths and limitations of the NCHS-MAX linked files for health-related inferences in the context of these issues, illustrated with examples from the linked 1994-2005 National Health Interview Survey-MAX files.