Updated NCHS Linked CMS Medicare Files providing Medicare enrollment and claims data covering service from January 1, 1999 through December 31, 2013 are now available for the following NCHS surveys: the 1994-2013 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), the 1999-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS), the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS), the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS), and the Second Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II).
The linked files combine health and socio-demographic information from NCHS surveys with Medicare enrollment and claims data providing researchers the opportunity to study changes in health status, health care utilization and expenditures in the elderly and disabled U.S. population.
Major features of the new linked CMS Medicare files include: (1) the first CMS Medicare linkage for the 2007 NHHCS; (2) the inclusion of four additional cycles of NHANES (2005-2012) and eight additional NHIS years (2006-2013).
Due to confidentiality requirements, the linked CMS Medicare files have been designated as restricted-use. External researchers will be able to analyze the linked CMS Medicare files through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). NCHS researchers may complete an OAE restricted-use linked files data use agreement to access the linked CMS Medicare files via a secure network area. To obtain a copy of the agreement and more information about access, please send an email to datalinkage@cdc.gov.
Please visit the Linked NCHS-CMS Medicare data web page for more detailed information: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-linkage/medicare.htm
To assist researchers interested in accessing the restricted-use linked CMS Medicare files, NCHS has created publicly available linked CMS Medicare feasibility files that can be downloaded directly from the following website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-linkage/medicare-feasibility.htm
The linked CMS Medicare feasibility files provide information about which survey respondents have been successfully linked to CMS Medicare data and which types of benefits records will be available for each linked survey respondent. This file should serve as a tool for researchers interested in assessing potential sample sizes and feasibility of pursuing an RDC application. It is important to note that the feasibility study files do not contain any specific information about CMS Medicare benefits.
The availability of these data files and their supporting documentation was made possible through the efforts of the staff from the Special Projects Branch, Office of Analysis and Epidemiology.