National Cancer Institute
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Outcomes Research Branch
Cancer Control and Population Sciences
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How the SEER & MHOS Data are Linked

The linkage of the SEER-MHOS data is a collaborative effort of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the SEER registries, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The linkage of persons in the SEER data to their MHOS data is performed by NCI and CMS and is not the responsibility of investigators seeking to use the data.

The linkage of MHOS and SEER data was accomplished by using an existing file that links persons in the SEER data to the Medicare’s master enrollment file. This existing file was initially constructed for the SEER-Medicare linked database, another collaborative project between CMS and NCI.

To create the SEER-MHOS linked database, the identifiers from MHOS respondents were matched to identifiers in the existing SEER-Medicare file. The dataset represents the linkage of eight MHOS cohorts that run from 1998 to 2007. NCI and CMS plan to update the SEER-MHOS linkage every two years.

The processes for matching persons appearing in the MHOS data with their SEER data are described in:

Ambs A, Warren JL, Bellizzi KM, Topor M, Haffer SC, Clauser SB. Overview of the SEER--Medicare Health Outcomes Survey linked dataset. Health Care Financ Rev 2008 Summer;29(4):5-21. [View Abstract]

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Last modified:
08 May 2012
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