User Guide

What is MEPS?

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (hereafter, MEPS) is an ongoing panel survey, started in 1996, that is produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The MEPS is fielded to a subset of households that responded to the previous year's National Health Interview Survey. Members of these households are interviewed five times over a two year period in a sequential panel design, so that members of two different panels are interviewed for the MEPS in a given calendar year.

• Sample Sizes: Number of families and persons in MEPS each year.
• Sample Design: Overview of the MEPS sample design.
• Sampling Weights: Overview of sampling weights in the MEPS.
• MEPS Analysis: General guidance on analysis and variance estimation with MEPS data.

Getting Started with IPUMS MEPS

• FAQ: Frequently asked questions.
• Tutorials: Tutorials on using IPUMS data (using IPUMS USA as an example).
• Additional Help: Connect with other users and IPUMS user support.
• Overview of the IPUMS MEPS Variable Builder: A user guide to get you started with the MEPS Event Summary Variable Builder.

Additional User Notes Covering Complex Variables, MEPS Data Collection Procedures, and Other MEPS Topics

• MEPS Panel Design: Learn more about data collection as part of the MEPS panel structure
• IPUMS MEPS Glossary of Key Concepts and Terms: Definitions and additional information for navigating MEPS data
• Guidance on how to merge IPUMS MEPS data to MEPS-HC data from AHRQ: Descriptions and sample code covering different types of linkages between IPUMS MEPS and other MEPS-HC data
• Data Extract Structures Available from IPUMS MEPS: Descriptions and examples of the various types of extracts that can be obtained from IPUMS MEPS
• Healthcare Expenditures: Definition and measurement of expenditures in MEPS
• Prescription Medications: Data collection procedures for prescription medications in MEPS
• Adjustment Factors for Income and Expenditures Over Time: Historical Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
• Income Data in MEPS: Summary of how MEPS collects, edits, and imputes income data
• Restricted Access MEPS Data: Using IPUMS MEPS with restricted access MEPS data in a Federal Statistical Research Data Center
• Accessing Linked NHIS and MEPS Data: Using Linking Keys to merge IPUMS NHIS and IPUMS MEPS data in a Federal Statistical Research Data Center
• How Are DUs, Families, RUs, and Persons Related to One Another in MEPS Data?: Understanding the relationships between MEPS survey administration and analysis variables
• Diabetes Care Survey (DCS): Additional information about the Diabetes Care Survey
• MEPS Missing Data Codes: Additional information about the missing data codes used in MEPS and IPUMS MEPS data
• Changes to the 2018 MEPS: Information on questionnaire changes implemented in the 2018 MEPS
• MEPS Condition, Event, and Prescribed Medicine Records: Overview of the events, medical conditions, and prescribed medicine variables, including how those variables are offered through IPUMS MEPS, and general considerations to keep in mind when conducting analyses
• Changes to the 2020 MEPS: Information about changes to MEPS as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic