National Medical Expenditure Survey, 1987: Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives, Preliminary Ambulatory Medical Visit Data [Public Use Tape 23.5P]

Résumé 0

The National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) series provides information on health expenditures by or on behalf of families and individuals, the financing of these expenditures, and each person's use of services. The Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives (SAIAN) was designed in collaboration with the Indian Health Service (IHS), and used the same data collection instruments, interview procedures, and time frame as the NMES Household Survey component. However, the SAIAN differed from the Household Survey in several respects. The SAIAN sample was interviewed only three times and was not given the supplements on long-term care, caregiving, and care-receiving. Also, SAIAN respondents were asked additional questions on topics such as use of IHS facilities and traditional medicine, and were given a modified self-administered questionnaire with separate versions for adults and children. Interviewers for the SAIAN were mainly American Indians or Alaska Natives, and about 20 percent of the interviews were not conducted entirely in English. Of these, approximately 40 percent were conducted entirely in the native language of the respondent. Public Use Tape 23.5 provides three data files containing information on the use of and expenditures for ambulatory medical services and sources of payment reported in the SAIAN Survey. An ambulatory visit is defined as a single contact with a medical provider for one or more services in either a hospital outpatient department or emergency room, a setting other than an inpatient hospital (such as a physician's office, a clinic, or a lab), a nursing home, or a person's home. The first file includes visits and telephone calls to physicians' offices (including HMOs and health departments) in settings other than a hospital or at home, and to providers of care (e.g., chiropractors and psychologists). The second file covers visits to hospital outpatient departments, while the third file provides information on visits to hospital emergency rooms, both regardless of provider type. A record on any of these data files represents a unique ambulatory visit. Variables include dates of visits, medical conditions associated with the visit, types of procedures performed, and the main reason for the visit. In addition, each file contains demographic information such as age, sex, and race.