Description
For all persons, ZNPREXTR captures the sum of direct payments made by TRICARE (formerly CHAMPUS) for "separately billing doctor" or SBD expenses associated with 'zero-night' inpatient hospital visits made during the year. Refer to the comparability tab for information on how the specific sources of payment included in ZNPREXTR change over time. SBD expenses include services provided to patients in hospital settings by providers like radiologists, anesthesiologists, and pathologists, whose charges are often not included in hospital bills. Payments for over-the-counter drugs and indirect payments not related to specific medical events, such as Medicaid Disproportionate Share and Medicare Direct Medical Education subsidies, are not included in this amount. For more information on how MEPS collects expenditure data, please refer to our user note on medical expenditures.
Some analysts may prefer to exclude "zero-night stays" from inpatient analyses and/or count these stays as ambulatory visits. Therefore, a separate variable is provided that contains a count of the number of inpatient events where the reported dates of admission and discharge were the same (ZNTOTVIS). In addition, separate expenditure variables are provided for zero-night facility expenses (ZNFEXT) and for separately billing doctor expenses (ZNPREXT). Analysts who choose to exclude the zero-night stays from inpatient expenditure analyses need to subtract the zero-night expenditure variable from the corresponding expenditure variable for total inpatient stays.
Variables related to total annual health care expenditures by source of payment, total annual health care expenditures by type of medical service, and total annual health care charges are also available. Please refer to our user note on expenditures for a list of these variables.
ZNPREXTR is a 6-digit numeric variable.
Comparability
This variable is mostly comparable over time. Prior to 2009, ZNPREXTR
includes direct payments for health care from TRICARE, including CHAMPVA. Beginning in 2009, ZNPREXTR excludes direct payments from CHAMPVA; instead, direct payments from CHAMPVA are included in ZNPREXVA for 2009-forward.
Universe
- 2000-2016: All persons.
Availability
- 2000-2016
Weights
- 2000-2016 : PERWEIGHT
