New Data from NCHS Available for Researchers

Latest National Ambulatory Care Data for Researchers
 
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) announces the availability of several new resources for researchers and policymakers interested in studying the characteristics of health care providers, characteristics of patients receiving care, and the clinical management of their care.
 
* The 2004 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) public use micro-data file is now available for downloading at the NCHS website.  The NAMCS is an annual, national probability sample survey of visits to nonfederal office based physicians. Also available are complete file documentation and program code to read and format the data set using SAS, SPSS and Stata.
 
* The 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) public use micro-data file, along with complete online documentation and SAS, SPSS and Stata program code to read the data are also available.  The NHAMCS collects data from nonfederal short-stay and general hospitals’ emergency and outpatient departments (EDs and OPDs).
 
* A web-based Health E-Stat, “Ambulatory Medical Care Utilization Estimates for 2004” provides summary estimates of ambulatory care utilization across settings (physician offices, EDs and OPDs).  Researchers can see examples of how data from the three surveys can be directly combined for national estimates of ambulatory care as well as for examining variation in the provision of care by health care setting.  
 
* Three new Advance Data Reports:  “National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey:  2004 Summary,” “National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary,” and “National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey:  2004 Outpatient Department Summary” highlight key statistics from each survey including volume of visits, conditions seen, services provided, medications prescribed, and disposition of care.  The reports showcase trends in utilization by setting as well as setting-specific analysis (such as emergency department wait times or variation treatment by physician specialty or OPD clinic type).  The 2004 ED Summary presents, for the first time, seasonal estimates of emergency department visits.
 
The data sets and reports are available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/ahcd/ahcd1.htm.  The NAMCS and NHAMCS are two components of a family of surveys known collectively as the National Health Care Survey (NHCS).  For information on long term care, inpatient care, and ambulatory surgery components of the NHCS, please visit www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhcs.htm.
 

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