This public use file is one in a series of event-level public use files from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC) and the Medical Provider Component (MPC). Released as an ASCII data file with SAS, SPSS, and STATA programming statements and as a SAS transport file, the Hospital Inpatient Stays File provides detailed information on 1996 household-reported hospital inpatient stays collected in Panel 1, Rounds 1, 2, and 3 of the survey. Data are gathered from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of the utilization and expenditures associated with hospital inpatient stays in 1996.
The Hospital Inpatient Stays Public Use Data File consists of 2 event-level data files. File 1 contains characteristics associated with the hospital inpatient stay event such as: the date of the hospital inpatient stay, reason for the stay, types of services received, condition(s) and procedure(s) associated with the hospital inpatient stay, and whether or not medicines were prescribed; and imputed expenditure data. File 2 contains pre-imputed and unimputed expenditure data.
For more information, see MEPS HC-014: 1996 MEPS HC Survey Data.