Description
For all persons eligible for the Access to Care section (ACCESSELIG) in a reporting unit where at least one person has a usual source of care provider (USUALPL) who changed their usual source of care provider in the last year (USCCHNG), USCCHNGY reports the main reason why family member(s) changed their usual source of care in the past 12 months.
USCCHNGY is collected as part of the Access to Care section, which gathers information on usual source of care for all family members, characteristics of usual source of care health providers, and barriers family members have faced in obtaining needed health care. Please see USCCHNG for all variables describing the family member's usual source of care and ACCESSELIG for more information about the Access to Care section.
IPUMS MEPS reports the universe for each variable based on a thorough review of the original MEPS documentation. Investigating the data may reveal cases that do not meet the stated universe. Users are encouraged to validate universes for their analyses.
Codes and Frequencies
An 'X' indicates the category is available for that sample
Code | Label |
01
|
00
|
99
|
98
|
97
|
96
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
00 | NIU | X | X | X | X | X | X |
01 | Family/Person changed insurance plans | X | X | X | X | X | X |
02 | Insurance plan changed doctors it covers | X | X | X | X | X | X |
03 | Dissatisfied with quality of care | X | X | X | X | X | X |
04 | Health care needs changed | X | X | X | X | X | X |
05 | Too far away | X | X | X | X | X | X |
06 | Moved to new area | X | X | X | X | X | X |
07 | Old provider no longer available | X | X | X | X | X | X |
08 | Cost-related reason | · | · | X | X | X | X |
09 | Other insurance-related reason | X | X | X | X | X | X |
10 | Job-related reason | X | X | · | X | · | X |
11 | New doctor referral/recommendation | X | X | X | X | X | X |
12 | Other complaint about old doctor | X | X | X | X | X | X |
13 | Transportation | · | X | X | X | · | X |
14 | Other reason | X | X | X | X | X | X |
97 | Unknown - refused | · | · | · | · | · | · |
98 | Unknown - not ascertained | · | · | · | · | · | · |
99 | Unknown - don't know | X | · | · | X | · | X |
Can't find the category you are looking for? Try the Detailed codes
Comparability
Users should note that the Access to Care variables are not designed to yield full-year estimates in 1997, as the section is only administered in Round 2 instead of Rounds 2 and 4. The 1997 AHRQ documentation advises that "The 1997 Access to Care variables cannot be used to make full-year estimates, but can be useful in such analyses as trend analyses, or for enhancing subgroup analyses. These variables may be of particular interest because of the 1997 oversample of populations (such as poverty, children with activity limitations, adults with functional limitations, high medical expenditure cases, and the elderly) where access issues are particularly relevant" (C-16). Because USCCHNGY is only collected in Round 2 in 1997 instead of Rounds 2 and 4, USCCHNGY cannot be used to make a full-year estimate in 1997. Otherwise, this variable is comparable over time.
Universe
- 1996-2001: All persons eligible for the Access to Care section (ACCESSELIG) in a reporting unit where at least one person has a usual source of care provider (USUALPL) who changed their usual source of care provider in the last year (USCCHNG).
Availability
- 1996-2001

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Weights
- 1996-2001 : PERWEIGHT