What’s New in April & May 2012!

The first version of Mini-MAX is now available.  Mini-MAX is a five percent cross-sectional national sample of the MAX files.  The sample is stratified by 51 states and by basis of eligibility (aged, disabled, children, and adults) among full beneficiaries and separately for restricted beneficiaries. Smaller states and smaller subpopulations were over sampled to increase the precision of their estimates. Variables that were less commonly used, redundant, or unreliable were removed to reduce the file size.  By reducing the volume of the data, we hope to expand the community of individuals capable of conducting Medicaid research.  Because Medicaid data can be challenging to understand and use, a Mini-MAX User’s Guide was created, which provides background information and practical guidance for conducting analyses with the Mini-MAX file.

Mini-MAX Description

The Mini-Max User’s Guide is intended to support this community’s needs by providing background information on the Medicaid program, highlighting important features of the Mini-MAX files, and providing guidance to researchers about issues to be considered when conducting research with Mini-MAX.  The Appendices identify data elements in MAX that have been excluded from Mini-MAX, present references for supplemental resources, display summary statistics from MAX, and provide sample code for common tasks in a Mini-MAX analysis. 

Expanding Access to Medicaid Data for Research:  Feasibility of a MAX Sample (Mini-MAX)

While MAX data are a critical Medicaid research tool that is widely used by the research community, the size and complexity of the MAX files have limited their use for some members of the research community, especially those with limited computing capacity.  To facilitate wider use of MAX, CMS contracted with Mathematica to convene a technical expert panel (TEP) and determine the feasibility of creating a sample file for MAX.  The Mini-Max Feasibility Study Final Report  describes the feasibility analysis and recommends the development of a “Mini-MAX” sample.