Data Use Agreement

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Individual identifiers have been removed from the micro-data contained in the public use data files. Nevertheless, under sections 308 (d) and 903 (c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m and 42 U.S.C. 299 a-1), data collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and /or the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) may not be used for any purpose other than for the purpose for which it was supplied; any effort to determine the identity of any reported cases, is prohibited by law.

Unauthorized disclosure of confidential information is subject to penalty under Title IX of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 299, Section 924(d), which reads as follows:

"Any person who violates subsection (c) shall be subject to a civil monetary penalty of not more the same manner as civil money penalties under subsection (a) of section 1128A of the Social Security Act are imposed and collected."

Therefore in accordance with the above referenced Federal Statute, it is understood that:

1. No one is to use the data in this data set in any way except for statistical reporting and analysis; and

2. If the identity of any person or establishment should be discovered inadvertently, then (a) no use will be made of this knowledge, (b) The Director Office of Management AHRQ will be advised of this incident, (c) the information that would identify any individual or establishment will be safeguarded or destroyed, as requested by AHRQ, and (d) no one else will be informed of the discovered identity.

3. No one will attempt to link this data set with individually identifiable records from any data sets other than the Medical Expenditure Panel survey or the National Health Interview Survey.

By using this data you signify your agreement to comply with the above stated statutorily based requirements with the knowledge that deliberately making a false statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the Federal Government violates 18 U.S.C. 1001 and is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or up to 5 years in prison.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requests that users cite AHRQ and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey as the data source in any publications or research based upon these data.

Your signature below will indicate that you have carefully read and understood the above statements, and your agreement to comply.

Typed/printed data user name ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Signature ------------------------------------------------------------ Date ---------------------------------


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Name of file(s) requested-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------