Methodological Comparison of Estimates of Ambulatory Health Care Use from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and Other Data Sources

Access and use of health care services are critical areas of interest for researchers and policymakers. Surveys used to analyze these issues have varying objectives and methodologies and can produce widely divergent estimates. Therefore analysts need to understand the data sources(s) being used and not presume that similar estimates or conclusions would result from alternative sources. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the types of complexities/differences that arise when comparing estimates of ambulatory health care use from different sources. In particular, we compare 2007 data on health care use collected from several Federal sources (the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the National Health Interview Survey, the National Ambulatory Medial Care Survey, and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey).