MAX and Survey Linkages

What’s New in April and Early May 2012!

A new report is available on the MAX and NCHS survey linkage activities.  In the report, we detail the method used to link Medicare survey data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) with Medicaid administrative data from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) files, and assess the quality of the linked MCBS-MAX records. Although the MCBS contains information on all services covered by Medicare, it does not contain any information on benefits—particularly long-term care services—that are covered only by Medicaid. And although we can see service usage in MAX, the only health status information available in the data is based on the diagnosis codes for Medicaid-financed services. MCBS has information on the health conditions, health-related behaviors, and health status of enrollees, such as activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).  By linking the MCBS and MAX data, researchers can obtain a more complete picture of total Medicare and Medicaid expenditures for and service utilization by dually-enrolled beneficiaries, and get valuable insight into the health status of these dual enrollees.  Please see the “Downloads” section below.

Description
MAX and NCHS Survey Linkage Design Report

CMS is interested in linking MAX files with survey data, including four surveys conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)—the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the Second Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II), and the National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS).  In linking the MAX files to the NCHS survey data, CMS can combine the best source of data on Medicaid services with the best sources of data on health status and risk factors.  The combined files can be extraordinarily valuable to researchers conducting comparative effectiveness research as well as to the wider health research community.  CMS contracted with Mathematica to link the NCHS data to MAX data for 1999-2011.  This report describes the linkage software previously developed by CMS and recommends minor modifications to the design and implementation of that software.

MAX and NCHS Linked Data Available for Researchers

MAX 1999-2007 are now linked to selected records from surveys administered by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Surveys included in the new linked data files include the 1994-2005 National Health Insurance Survey (NHIS), the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and the 2004 National Nursing Home Study (NNHS). For additional information, including instructions for requesting access to the linked files, see the link for the NCHS Web site below.