Description
For all persons eligible for the Access to Care section (ACCESSELIG) who have a usual source of care provider (USUALPL), USCPRFAC reports whether the person goes to a facility, a provider, or a provider in a facility for their usual source of care.
USCPRFAC is collected as part of the Access to Care section, which gathers information on barriers family members have faced in obtaining needed health care, the usual source of care for all family members, and characteristics of usual source of care health providers. Please see ACCESSELIG for more information on 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.
Related Variables
The Access to Care section collection information about the respondent's usual source of care provider's characteristics. In addition to USCPRFAC, the following questions are asked:
- TYPPLSICK: Kind of usual place for medical care
- USCOWNGRP: Usual source of care provider is provider's own practice or part of group
- USCUPR: Sees particular provider at usual source of care
- USCPRTYP: Type of provider seen at usual source of care
- USCMEDTYP: Usual source of care medical setting type
- USCPRHISP: Usual medical provider is Hispanic or Latino
- USCPRWHT: Usual medical provider is white
- USCPRBLK: Usual medical provider is black or African American
- USCPRASN: Usual medical provider is Asian
- USCPRNATAM: Usual medical provider is Native American
- USCPROPI: Usual medical provider is other Pacific Islander
- USCPROTHRAC: Usual medical provider is some other race
- USCPRSEX: Usual medical provider is male or female
Codes and Frequencies
Comparability
Users may note the change in frequencies of the "facility" and "person in facility provider" categories beginning in 2018. AHRQ documentation attributes this to a change in the survey instrument. Please see the user note for more information on changes to the 2018 MEPS.
Users should also 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 USCPRFAC is only collected in Round 2 in 1997 instead of Rounds 2 and 4, USCPRFAC cannot be used to make a full-year estimate in 1997. Otherwise, this variable is comparable over time.
Universe
- 1996-2021: All persons eligible for the Access to Care section (ACCESSELIG) who have a usual source of care provider (USUALPL).
Availability
- 1996-2021
Weights
- 1996-2021 : PERWEIGHT
