N C H S - N A M C S / N H A M C S - Previous What's New Items

The 2005 NAMCS and NHAMCS CD-ROMs with SETS retrieval software are now available. (1/15/08)

New emergency department files for 2005 (ED2005.exe and ED05-stat.exe) are now available for downloading. These files correct a recently discovered problem with the verbatim reason for visit item. (8/29/07)

SAS code to produce aggregated visit statistics at the physician level (for NAMCS) and the outpatient or emergency department level (for NHAMCS) is now available.

With the release of the 2005 public use files, provider weights became available for the first time. There are a number of variables on the files that pertain directly to characteristics of the physician or department, and basic instructions for using the provider weights with these variables can be found in the 2005 public use file documentation. However, there may be cases where researchers wish to link visit characteristics with providers and produce aggregated statistics at the provider level. This is a more complicated process, and is explained in this document. (7/3/2007)

The 2005 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use micro-data file and the 2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use data files are now available for downloading. Please be sure to download the documentation files as well. SAS, Stata, and SPSS files for reading and formatting the data are also available. (5/17/2007)

The 2003 NHAMCS CD-ROM with SETS retrieval software is now available! (7/21/2006)

The 2003 NAMCS CD-ROM with SETS retrieval software is now available! (7/14/2006)

The 2004 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use micro-data file and the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use data files are now available for downloading. Please be sure to download the documentation files as well. SAS, Stata, and SPSS files for reading and formatting the data are also available (3/20/2006)

The 2003 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey ant the 2003 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use micro-data files are now available for downloading. Please be sure to download the documentation files as well. SAS, Stata, and SPSS files for reading and formatting the data are also available. (7/19/2005)

The 2002 NHAMCS 2002 CD-ROM with SETS retrieval software is now available! (11/3/2004)

The 1993 and 1994 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use data files have been re-released and are now available for downloading. (1993 and 1994 NAMCS public use files had been re-released previously.) Please be sure to download the newly revised supplemental documentation file that discusses important changes made to the 1993 and 1994 files and discusses guidelines for variance estimation with SUDAAN, SAS, SPSS, and Stata. SAS input statements, variable labels and value labels are also available for these years. (9/29/2004)

The 2002 NAMCS 2002 CD-ROM with SETS retrieval software Notice to SUDAAN users: The 2002 NAMCS public use file has been modified slightly to resolve a problem found when running SUDAAN version 8.0.2 and higher. This problem only appears when using the WOR (without replacement) design option with multi-level design variables and may cause the program to abort. For those using the SUDAAN WR (with replacement) option or other analytic software packages using an ultimate cluster model for variance estimation (for example, SAS, Stata, and SPSS), there should be no problem using the original version of the 2002 NAMCS public use file, so you do not need to replace your file with this new release. (9/29/2004)

The 2002 NAMCS 2002 CD-ROM with SETS retrieval software is now available! (8/26/2004)

2002 NAMCS and NHAMCS Public-Use Files Are Now Available! The public-use micro-data files, general documentation, and SAS documentation are currently available for downloading. Also available for the first time is program documentation for SPSS and Stata users. (5/21/04)

New publication! The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2002 Emergency Department Summary is now available. (3/19/04)

New data release! The 2001 NAMCS and NHAMCS CD-ROMs with SETS retrieval software are now available! (3/19/04)

The 2001 NAMCS and NHAMCS public-use data files and documentation are now available for downloading! (9/10/03)

Announcing the Release of Enhanced 1993 and 1994 NAMCS Public-Use Files! (3/21/02)
We are pleased to announce that new NAMCS public use files for 1993 and 1994 are available for downloading from the CDC ftp server that contain, for the first time, sample design variables in masked form. This new information will allow researchers to use sophisticated statistical software like SUDAAN and STATA that take the complex design of the survey into account. The files names and file layouts are essentially the same as previously published, but the design variables have been appended to each file according to a generic file layout that is also available for downloading. The supplemental file documentation not only contains the file layout but also a description of various minor revisions to some of the datasets. We are currently working on the re-release of NHAMCS public use files for these survey years.

Announcing the Release of Enhanced 1995 and 1996 NAMCS and NHAMCS Public-Use Files! (9/19/02)
We are pleased to announce that new NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files for 1995 and 1996 are available for downloading from the CDC ftp server that contain, for the first time, sample design variables in masked form. This new information will allow researchers to use sophisticated statistical software like SUDAAN and STATA that take the complex design of the survey into account. The files names and file layouts are essentially the same as previously published, but the design variables have been appended to each file according to a generic file layout that is also available for downloading. The supplemental file documentation not only contains the file layout but also a description of various minor revisions to some of the datasets. We are currently working on the re-release NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files for survey years from 1989-1994.

Expanded SAS Documentation Now Available for 1995 and 1996 Public Use Files (9/19/02)
As part of our re-release efforts for 1995 NAMCS and NHAMCS, we are pleased to offer not only input statements, but also SAS code for variable labels, value labels, and format assignments. These new files are available for downloading from the CDC ftp server. Please try them out!

Ambulatory Care Drug Database System Now Available with Data for 2000! (6/20/02)
This query system allows you to search for drugs mentioned in the NAMCS and NHAMCS by entry name, by generic name, and by ingredients. It can provide information on drug characteristics including therapeutic class, composition status, prescription status, and control status. It will also give data on frequencies of drug mentions in 2000.

2000 NAMCS and NHAMCS Public Use Files are Now Available for Downloading! (4/19/02)
We are pleased to announce the initial release of the NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files for 2000, which may be downloaded from the CDC ftp server. In addition to our standard data items, these files contain sample design variables in masked form which will allow researchers to use sophisticated statistical software like SUDAAN and STATA that take the complex design of the survey into account. General documentation is also downloadable for the 2000 NAMCS and NHAMCS. In addition to the general file documentation, we also have enhanced SAS documentation for 2000 NAMCS and NHAMCS which includes input statements, value labels, variable labels, and form assignments.

Announcing the Release of Enhanced NAMCS and NHAMCS Public-Use Files! (2/13/02)
We are pleased to announce that new NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files for 1997, 1998, and 1999 are available for downloading from the CDC ftp server that contain, for the first time, sample design variables in masked form. This new information will allow researchers to use sophisticated statistical software like SUDAAN and STATA that take the complex design of the survey into account. The files names and file layouts are essentially the same as previously published, but the design variables have been appended to each file according to a generic file layout that is also available for downloading. The supplemental file documentation not only contains the file layout but also a description of various minor revisions to some of the datasets. We are currently working on the re-release NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files for survey years from 1989-1996.

Expanded SAS Documentation Now Available for 1997-1999 Public Use Files (2/13/02)
In the past, we provided only SAS input statements for NAMCS and NHAMCS public use files. Now we are pleased to offer not only input statements, but also SAS code for variable labels, value labels, and format assignments. These new files are available for downloading from the CDC ftp server. Please try them out! We are also hoping to develop similar products for SPSS users. If you would like to be a beta tester for our SPSS documentation, let us know.

1973-1992 NAMCS Public-Use Files are Now Available for Downloading (5/12/01)
As a result of customer requests, we have established an ftp site where researchers can download NAMCS public-use data files from survey years 1973, 1975-1981, 1985, and 1989-1992. Also available are the drug files for 1980, 1981, 1985, and 1989-1991. Files with a D in the filename denote the drug files. File documentation for each year is available in pdf format and can be downloaded from the same address. The public-use files are in self-extracting compressed format, same as our current downloadable files, and a readme file is available at the same address with instructions for opening the files. These data files and documentation will be made available to users on CD-ROM in ASCII format in the future.