Data Development and Use

Advancing Research Data Infrastructure for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research. A. Navathe, C. Clancy, S. Glied, Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2011; 306(11):1254-1255. Commentary outlines technologies to create a data infrastructure that supports patient-centered care, research, and rapid learning. (AHRQ 12-R013)

Common Formats Allow Uniform Collection and Reporting of Patient Safety Data by Patient Safety Organizations. C. Clancy, American Journal of Medical Quality, January-February 2010; 25(1):73-75. Commentary by AHRQ director describes the introduction of Common Formats Version 1.0, a set of evidence-based common definitions and reporting formats that will allow patient safety organizations, health providers, and other entities to report patient safety events in a confidential, uniform manner. (AHRQ 10-R036)

Emergency Department Care in the United States: A Profile of National Data Sources. P. Owens, M. Barrett, T. Gibson, et al., Annals of Emergency Medicine, August 2010; 56(2):150-65. Epub January 2010.. Provides a comparison of seven data sources that can be used to examine use and quality of emergency department services nationally. (AHRQ 10-R059)

GRADE Guidelines: 9. Rating Up the Quality of Evidence. G. Guyatt, A. Oxman, S. Sultan, et al., Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, December 2011; 64(12):1311-1316. Discusses the rationale for rating up the quality of evidence one or two levels. (AHRQ 12-R027)

The Impact of Survey Design Modifications on Health Insurance Coverage Estimates in a National Longitudinal Health Care Survey. S. Cohen, T. Ezzati-Rice, M. Zodet, Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, December 2009; 9(4):197-218. Examines the correlates of nonresponse incorporated in the estimation techniques and adjustment methods used in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and discusses strategies under consideration that may yield additional improvements in the accuracy of these estimates. (AHRQ 11-R006)

Implications of the Accuracy of MEPS Prescription Drug Data for Health Services Research. S. Hill, S. Zuvekas, M. Zodet, Inquiry, Fall 2011; 48(3):242-259. Assesses the quality of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) drug data and the impact that misreporting drug data has on descriptive and behavioral analyses. (AHRQ 12-R026)

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: A National Information Resource to Support Healthcare Cost Research and Inform Policy and Practice. J. Cohen, S. Cohen, J. Banthin, Medical Care, July 2009; 47(7 Suppl 1):S44-S50. Summarizes the capacity of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to support research focused on the dynamics of the U.S. health care system. (AHRQ 10-R032)

MEPS: A Survey of Health Care Use and Spending. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, October 2011, 9 pp. Brochure describes the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), including the various survey components; the types of data collected; how the data can be used by researchers, policymakers, health care administrators, and others; and how to obtain MEPS data. Sample MEPS findings are presented. (AHRQ 11(12)-0092)

Methods for Developing and Analyzing Clinically Rich Data for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research: An Overview. S. Schneeweiss, J. Seeger, S. Smith, Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2012; 21(S2):1-5. Introduces and discusses articles presented at an AHRQ-sponsored symposium on research methods development and methodological issues. (AHRQ 12-R063)

Race and Ethnicity Reporting in Statewide Hospital Data: Progress and Future Challenges in a Key Resource for Local and State Monitoring of Health Disparities. R. Andrews, Journal of Public Health Management Practice, March/April 2011; 17(2):167-173. Examines the extent and quality of race-ethnicity coding in statewide hospital data. (AHRQ 11-R033)

Translating Frontiers into Practice: Taking the Next Steps Toward Improving Hospital Efficiency. R. Mutter, M. Rosko, W. Greene, et al., Medical Care Research and Review, 2011; 68(Sup 1):3S-19S. Focuses on the application of frontier techniques such as data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis to hospitals with the hope of making these techniques more accurate and accessible to end users. (AHRQ 12-R028)

The Utility of the Integrated Design of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to Inform Mortality Related Studies. S. Cohen, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Working Paper No. 11004, August 2011. Discusses the capacity of one specific integrated survey design to enhance longitudinal analyses focused on mortality studies. (AHRQ 12-R055)

MEPSnet. This interactive on-line service presents data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). MEPSnet (http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/meps_query.jsp) gives easy access to statistics on insurance coverage and health care use, expenses, and sources of payment for the U.S. noninstitutionalized population using household-reported data. MEPSnet also provides access to national statistics and trends on job-related health insurance using establishment-reported data. Statistical Briefs. MEPS statistical briefs provide easy-to-read, concise graphical summaries of MEPS data. Go to http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/publications.jsp.

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