The utility of the integrated design of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to inform mortality related studies\footnotemark

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The analytic capacity of surveys can be dramatically enhanced through the linkage to existing secondary data sources at higher levels of aggregation as well as through direct matches to additional health and socio-economic measures acquired for the same set of sample units from other sources of survey specific or administrative data. In this presentation, the capacity of an integrated survey design to enhance longitudinal analyses focused on mortality studies is discussed. Examples are drawn from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), designed to produce estimates of health care utilization, expenditures, sources of payment, and insurance coverage of the US population. Analyses are conducted to examine differentials in pre-dispositional factors that distinguish a representative sample of decedents from their surviving counterparts and to assess the relationship between antecedent health and health care related factors and mortality. The relationship between medical expenditure levels over time and mortality is also examined to illustrate the enhanced set of longitudinal analyses that can be undertaken. The views expressed are those of the author and no official endorsement by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the Department of Health and Human Services is intended or should be inferred. All tables can be obtained from the author upon request.