Frequently Asked Questions

Within the documentation for the MEPS-HC public use data files a variable-source crosswalk is provided. The following information is provided: variable; description; and source.

Data files and their accompanying documentation can be found at https://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/download_data_files.jsp.

The MEPS Insurance/Employer Component (MEPS-IC) is an annual survey of employers that collects information on employers' health insurance offerings. The MEPS-IC was first conducted for the 1996 calendar year. There are two distinct parts to the MEPS-IC: the List Sample and the Household Sample. While these samples are designed to address different survey goals, the two have been combined to make data collection more efficient. The U.S. Census Bureau serves as the data collection agent for the MEPS-IC survey.

For more information about the MEPS-IC, go to https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/Insurance.jsp.

Periodically, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) conducts workshops designed for health services researchers who have a background or interest in using national health surveys. Additionally webinars are offered on specific topics on a regular basis.

Information on upcoming workshops and webinars are available at MEPS Workshops & Events page.

The Effective Health Care (EHC) Program develops evidence reports, research summaries, tools, and other resources on a wide spectrum of topics, relevant to clinical, social science/behavioral, economic, and other health care organization and delivery issues. The reports and related resources may be used for informing and developing coverage decisions, quality measures, educational materials and tools, clinical practice guidelines, and research agendas. The EHC Program also develops new methods to improve how evidence synthesis is conducted.

To read the range of conditions researched in current and ongoing evidence reports, browse the EHC products by audience, type, or health topic categories.

The public can get involved in Effective Health Care (EHC) Program by suggesting topics for evidence reviews and providing comments on draft evidence reviews and other reports.

For more information, visit the Get Involved page on the EHC website.

The Effective Health Care (EHC) Program improves the quality of health care by providing the best available evidence on the outcomes, benefits and harms, and appropriateness of drugs, devices, and health care services and by helping health care professionals, patients, policymakers, and health care systems make informed health care decisions. The EHC Program achieves this goal by developing evidence reports in partnership with health professional societies, health systems, consumer organizations, and other stakeholders.

Learn about the history of the EHC Program and its projects, including the following:

• The Evidence-based Practice Centers perform in-depth reviews of existing evidence and produce methods guidance and tools.
• The Scientific Resource Center provides scientific support for the EHC Program.
• The Registry of Patient Registries project provides information and tools to help researchers build and use a patient registry.

Numerous former projects and initiatives have also contributed to the EHC Program since its authorization.

The SafetyNet Monitoring project was a joint initiative led by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in response to a 2000 report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that described America's health care safety net as "intact but endangered" and recommended that "...concerted efforts be directed to improving this Nation's capacity and ability to monitor the changing structure, capacity, and financial stability of the safety net to meet the health care needs of the uninsured and other vulnerable populations."

This initiative is no longer active.

Information on the SafetyNet Monitoring project has been archived.

Grants and cooperative agreements both are financial assistance support mechanisms. Under both mechanisms, money and/or other direct assistance is provided to an eligible entity to carry out an approved project or activity in support of a public purpose and not for the direct benefit of the government.

A grant is used whenever the awarding agency anticipates no substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient during performance of the financially assisted activities.

A cooperative agreement is used when there will be substantial Federal programmatic involvement with the recipient during performance of the financially assisted activities. Substantial involvement means that OPDIV program staff will collaborate or participate in project or program activities as specified in the Notice of Award.

Unless otherwise specified, the use of the term "grant" includes cooperative agreements as well as grants.

In the rare instances that a PHS 2590 is to be submitted rather than an RPPR (Research Performance Progress Report), grantees are to follow the instructions posted on the AHRQ website at Post-Award Grant Management, Noncompeting Application Requirements.

Also refer to the instructions for PHS 2590 on the NIH Grants site.

Unless instructed otherwise by a term of award, the majority of non-competing applications submitted to AHRQ are done so using the "Research Performance Progress Report" (RPPR) module of the eRA Commons. The exception is recipients of multi-year funded (MYF) awards (awards in which the budget and project periods are the same and are longer than 12 months).

For further details, refer to the Notice published in the NIH Guide on October 17, 2014.