Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends (CFACT)
Programs
Social and Economic Research
Modeling and Simulation Research
Statistical and Methodological Research
Survey Operations
MEPS Data Dissemination
CFACT Data Center
Extramural Research Directed to Access, Use, and Cost
Long-term Care Research and Data Development
Social and Economic Research
The Division of Social and Economic Research provides basic descriptive and behavioral analyses of the U.S. health care system including the population's access to, use of, and expenditures and sources of payment for health care; the availability and costs of private health insurance in the employment-related and non-group markets; the population enrolled in public health insurance coverage and those without health care coverage; and the role of health status in health care use, expenditures, and household decisionmaking, and in health insurance and employment choices.
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Modeling and Simulation Research
The Division of Modeling and Simulation Research conducts research, and develops models and databases to support microsimulation analyses of household impacts and trends in health expenditures from health policies embodied in current law and from health care policies embodied in generic versions of proposed health care reforms.
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Statistical and Methodological Research
The Division of Statistical Research and Methods, CFACT, conducts studies on statistical methods and the use of statistics in survey design in health services research. These studies provide the bases for policy research and analysis and for technical assistance provided to other Centers and Offices within the Agency.
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Survey Operations
The Division of Survey Operations has administration responsibilities for the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the only national source for data on how Americans use and pay for medical care. The survey collects detailed information from families on access, use, expense, insurance coverage, and quality. Data are disseminated to the public through printed and Web-based tabulations, microdata files, and research reports/journal articles.
The Division of Survey Operations also has administration responsibilities for the MEPS Insurance Component, which is the only source of national, regional, and State data on the health insurance offerings available to Americans through their employers and the cost employers incur for providing that coverage. The survey collects detailed information from families insurance offerings and take-up, on the cost of insurance to employers and the basic characteristics of the plans offered. AHRQ disseminates data to the public through printed and Web-based tabulations, and research reports/journal articles. Microdata files are available to researchers and others through the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies.
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MEPS Data Dissemination
The Division of Survey Operations is responsible for developing and disseminating public use data files which include editing, imputation, and estimation tasks. In addition to producing basic data files, a principle component of the overall MEPS program is providing technical service to data users with two goals. The first objective is to better meet the public's need for data by providing data at several levels of complexity. The second objective is to provide maximum return on our data investment by training researchers and others to effectively use the data.
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CFACT Data Center
A key mission of the Center is to provide access to MEPS data to as many researchers as possible while preserving the privacy promised respondents. The Data Center is developed and managed by the Division of Survey Operations within CFACT. The Data Center permits researchers with approved projects to use data without direct identifiers, but which contain levels of detail not appropriate for general public release, under the direct supervision of AHRQ staff in a secure computing environment.
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Extramural Research Directed to Access, Use, and Cost
All Divisions in CFACT work to support extramural research that is directed at strategies that improve access, foster appropriate use, and reduce unnecessary expenditures in care. We also provide support for researchers using our databases to examine a broad range of health services research issues. This technical support is extended beyond the traditional extramural research community to include policymakers at the Regional, State, and local levels.
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Long-term Care Research and Data Development
This is a Program Collaboration with the Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets (CDOM). With the aging of America comes a greater need for information about the long-term care population, the services and quality of care they receive, the cost of care and how these services are financed. Persons with need for assistance with basic activities of daily living, homemaker activities and other normal role activities (e.g., work, and school) comprise the long-term care (LTC) population. Providers and policymakers need information on how to foster independence and prevent unnecessary disability, improve access to care, provide services more efficiently, improve patient safety and health care quality, and improve quality of life. To do so, they need a better understanding of how individuals, families, and providers make decisions, and how changing market characteristics and Federal, State, and local policies and payment mechanisms affect these decisions. Research can enhance decision-maker capacity to monitor the quality of care, improve consumer decision making, assure patient safety, and identify disparities in the delivery of long-term care. AHRQ's long-term care initiative, developed in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration), Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the National Center for Health Statistics, will provide the data and evidence base needed to answer such questions.
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More Information
For more information about CFACT programs, contact:
Steven B. Cohen, Ph.D., Director
Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road, Suite 5000
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: (301) 427-1406
Fax: (301) 427-1276
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Current as of October 2005
Internet Citation:
Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends: Programs. October 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/cfact/cfactprgms.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850