This series of government-produced data sets can be used to examine how individuals interact with the medical care system in the United States.
These components provide comprehensive national estimates of health care use and payment by individuals, families, and any other demographic group of interested .
AHRQ continually produces chartbooks, statistical briefs, and fact sheets using MEPS data which shed light on these various facets of how the American healthcare system functions, what patients experience, how they behave, and who pays for the cost of care.
[23] Noninstitutionalized civilian Americans (both citizens and non-citizens) are sampled at the household, allowing for analyses of medical behavior at the family-level as well as the individual-level.
These individuals are then followed with five in-person interviews (rounds) over the course of two years during which a complete demographic profile is collected, all medical encounters are documented, and patient-reported subjective questions regarding topics like satisfaction with care are obtained.