Description

For all medication-round records, LINKIDM is an AHRQ-generated identifier that uniquely identifies medication-round records. LINKIDM is created by combining DUPERSIDM with a numeric value that is the same for each fill of a medication within a given round. LINKIDM differs for the same medication across rounds (see MEPSDRUGID for a unique drug identifier across rounds). From 1996-2017, LINKIDM uniquely identifies medication-round records within a panel. To uniquely identify records across all MEPS panels, please see MEPSLINKIDM. Beginning in 2018, LINKIDM uniquely identifies medication-round records across panels due to changes in the construction of DUPERSIDM to add PANELM to the first two digits of the DUPERSIDM identifier and the addition of a 2-digit event type number.

Event-Medication-Round Record Linking
The event, medication-round, and medication-round fill records can be joined together by using the event-medication-round link records. LINKIDM is on the medication-round record and is the same as LINKIDK on the event-medication-round link record and LINKIDF on the medication-round fill record. The event-medication-round link records (K rectype) and medication-round fill records (F rectype) can be linked to the medication-round records (M rectype) using LINKIDK, LINKIDF, and LINKIDM, respectively. However, due to changes in how LINKIDM is constructed over time, IPUMS MEPS recommends using MEPSLINKIDK, MEPSLINKIDM, and MEPSLINKIDF to join the event-medication-round link, medication-round, and medication-round fill records.

See our user note for more details on how to join the different record types and an overview of the event, medical conditions, and prescribed medicines variables, how those variables are offered through IPUMS MEPS, and general considerations to keep in mind when conducting analyses using these variables.

From 1996-2017, LINKIDM is a 12-character string variable. Beginning in 2018, LINKIDM is a 16-character string variable.

Comparability

From 1996-2017, LINKIDM is 12 digits wide and uniquely identifies medication-round records within a MEPS panel. Beginning in 2018, LINKIDM is 16 digits wide due to the increased width of DUPERSIDM and the addition of a 2-digit event type number and uniquely identifies records across MEPS panels.

Universe

Availability

• 1996-2020

Weights

• No weights are available for this variable. Please refer to LINKIDM for more information.

Flags