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Ambulatory Health Care Data

What's New

 

Did You Know?

  • NAMCS data can be used to make physician estimates as well as visit estimates.
  • As part of the survey induction process, physicians are interviewed about themselves and their practices, using the Physician Induction Interview Form.  NAMCS public use files from 2005 forward contain a physician-level weight that can be used to make estimates of office-based physicians who saw patients during their reporting week, representing the majority of NAMCS participants. The public use files contain a variety of physician-level variables, and additional items are [PDF - 50 KB] available through the NCHS Research Data Center. The RDC files also contain records for NAMCS physicians who are not included on the public use files for various reasons (did not see patients during reporting week, did not submit visit forms). Including these physicians in one’s analysis along with those who saw patients can provide national estimates of all office-based physicians.
  • A recent example of physician-level NAMCS data appeared in the QuickStats section of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). It shows acceptance by physicians of various forms of payment from new patients in 1999-00 and 2008-09.
  • A new NAMCS Public Use Physician Trend File covering survey years 2005-2010 is now available; see under Data Products for more information.

 

Data Products

  • NOTICE: Problems were recently found in the 2006 NAMCS
    • and 2007 and 2008 NHAMCS Stata documentation. Several variables had been incorrectly defined as type 'byte' or 'int' which caused them to be missing when running Stata. The dictionary files and Stata datasets have been corrected. (2/2013)
  • We are pleased to announce the release of Summary web tables from 2010 NAMCS and NHAMCS. The NAMCS Summary Tables present the most current data on patient visits to physician offices; the NHAMCS Summary Tables present the most current data on visits to hospital emergency and outpatient departments. Please refer to NAMCS and NHAMCS Web Tables. (1/2013)
  • Stata documentation for 2007-2009 NAMCS and NHAMCS public use data files is now available. This includes Stata .do and .dct files for creating Stata datasets using public use data files in ASCII format, as well as complete, pre-made Stata datasets in self-extracting, compressed format.  Readme files are also available at the same location and contain more information. (12/2012)
  • Data from the 2012 National Electronic Health Records Survey are now available for use in the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Please refer to NAMCS and NHAMCS Restricted Data Available at the NCHS Research Data Center [PDF - 40 KB], see the RDC file layout [PDF - 93 KB], visit the RDC website, or contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch for more information. (11/2012)
  • SPSS and Stata documentation for the 2010 NAMCS Public Use Data File is now available (10/2012)
  • 2010 NHAMCS Emergency and Outpatient Department Public Use Micro-Data Files and documentation are now available for downloading. SAS, Stata and SPSS files for reading and formatting the data are also available. (10/2012)
  • Notice: It was recently discovered that Tables II and III in the 2010 NAMCS Public Use File Documentation contained incorrect population estimates for the columns labeled 5-14, 15-24, and 25-34 years, due to a transcription error. The tables have been corrected. (9/2012)
  • 2010 NHAMCS data are now available for use in the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Please refer to RDC website, or contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch for more information. (8/2012)
  • We are pleased to announce the release of the first NAMCS Public Use Physician Trend File, covering survey years from 2005 through 2010. This file includes all previously released physician data from the 2005 through 2010 NAMCS Public Use Files; no visit data are included.  A single record is included for each physician in every survey year; each record contains information collected during the Physician Induction Interview along with a weighting variable which enables researchers to make national estimates. File documentation is also available for downloading, along with SAS files for reading and formatting the data. SPSS and Stata files will be added at a later date. (8/2012)
  • The 2010 NAMCS Public Use Micro-Data File and documentation are now available for downloading. SAS files for reading and formatting the data are also available, with SPSS and Stata files to come soon. The 2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use micro-data files and documentation should be available in the near future. (6/2012)
  • We are pleased to announce the first release of data from the 2011 NAMCS Physician Workflow Supplement.  Data  are now available for use in the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). This survey is a follow-up data collection initiative sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to provide a better understanding of physician experiences with adoption and use of electronic health records. Please refer to the 2011 NAMCS Physician Workflow Supplement File Layout [PDF – 266 KB], NAMCS and NHAMCS Restricted Data Available at the NCHS Research Data Center [PDF - 40 KB], visit the RDC website, or contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch for more information. (6/2012)
  • 2010 NAMCS data are now available for use in the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Please refer to RDC website, or contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch for more information. (5/2012)
  • 2009 NHAMCS Emergency and Outpatient Department Public Use Micro-Data Files have been re-released with data on electronic medical records! The survey documentation has been updated as well. (3/2012)
  • 2009 NAMCS and NHAMCS Outpatient Department Public Use Micro-Data Files have been re-released with a new item on cervical cancer screening (CCS). (3/2012)
  • The 2008 NAMCS Public Use Micro-Data File has been re-released with a new item on cervical cancer screening (CCS). (3/2012)
  • New NAMCS and NHAMCS Factsheets are available with 2009 data. These factsheets are available for each physician specialty sampled in NAMCS, and for hospital outpatient and emergency departments in NHAMCS. (3/2012)
  • Please note that the 2009 NHAMCS ED Public Use File Documentation and SAS Format file (ed09for.txt) have been revised to include a correction to the labeling of categories for the Patient Residence item. (1/2012)
  • The Ambulatory Care Drug Database has been updated to reflect 2009 NAMCS and NHAMCS data. The database provides a look up tool for all of the drugs in NAMCS and NHAMCS along with their characteristics. (12/2011) 
  • New geocoded data for NAMCS and NHAMCS 1999-2009 are now available at the NCHS Research Data Center! These data consist of distances between each patient’s ZIP Code of residence and the nearest hospital [PDF - 156 KB] and Federally Qualified Health Center [PDF - 136 KB]. (12/2011)
  • Data from the 2011 NAMCS Electronic Medical Records Supplement are now available for use in the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Please refer to NAMCS and NHAMCS Restricted Data Available at the NCHS Research Data Center [PDF - 40 KB], see the RDC file layout [ PDF - 76 KB ], visit the RDC website, or contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch for more information. (12/2011)
  • Please read this important information about Expected Sources of Payment Data in NAMCS and NHAMCS [ PDF - 44 KB]

 

Announcements

Ambulatory Care Drug Database

It was recently discovered that a March 2012 CDC system update may have caused an error in the Ambulatory Care Drug Database.  As a result, some drugs were displaying in search results without a corresponding number of “2009 Mentions”.  The problem appears to have been identified and resolved.  We will continue to monitor the database periodically to check for any further anomalies.  Please keep in mind that the main function of the database is to help researchers identify codes and characteristics of drugs that have been reported in NAMCS and NHAMCS in order to facilitate research efforts. (4/2012)

New Component Added to NHAMCS

Beginning in 2009, hospital-based ambulatory surgery centers were included in the sample design for the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. In 2010, free-standing ambulatory surgery centers were added as well. Previously, ambulatory surgery data were collected by the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, which was last fielded in 2006.

Attention Health Care Providers!

Attention Health Care Providers! The course entitled "National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Methods: What Clinicians Need to Know " is currently not available. It should be available again in early August. The course will be eligible for 1.25 hours of Category 1 continuing medical education (CME), 1.4 hours of continuing nursing education (CNE) and 0.1 continuing education (CEU) credits. Please contact our office for more information. (6/2012).

 

Publications

 

Previous What's New Items

 

 

 

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  • Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch
    National Center for Health Statistics
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    Hyattsville, MD 20782
  • (301) 458-4600
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