Description
MEPSIDX is a variable that uniquely identifies respondents across MEPS panels. It is created by combining PANELX, DUIDX, and PIDX. IPUMS MEPS staff create MEPSIDX for the 1996-2017 samples to provide a single, universal linking key for MEPS persons. Beginning in 2018, AHRQ modified the identifiers DUIDX and DUPERSIDX (which combines DUIDX with PIDX) on the original MEPS data files to append information about PANELX to the first two columns. This update makes DUPERSIDX identical to MEPSIDX in the IPUMS MEPS extract system for 2018-forward.
