The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC) collects data from a sample of families and individuals in selected communities across the United States, drawn from a nationally representative subsample of households that participated in the prior year's National Health Interview Survey (conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics). During the household interviews, MEPS collects detailed information for each person in the household on the following: demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical services, charges and source of payments, access to care, satisfaction with care, health insurance coverage, income, and employment. The panel design of the survey, which features several rounds of interviewing, makes it possible to determine how changes in respondents' health status, income, employment, eligibility for public and private insurance coverage, use of services, and payment for care are related. Public Use Files for Household data are available on the MEPS website.

The HCUP Summary Trend Tables include monthly information on hospital utilization derived from the HCUP State Inpatient Databases (SID) and HCUP State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD). Information on emergency department (ED) utilization is dependent on availability of HCUP data; not all HCUP Partners participate in the SEDD.

The HCUP Summary Trend Tables include downloadable Microsoft® Excel tables with information on the following topics:

Overview of monthly trends in inpatient and emergency department utilization

All inpatient encounter types

Inpatient stays by priority conditions
-COVID-19
-Influenza
-Other acute or viral respiratory infection

Inpatient encounter type
-Normal newborns
-Deliveries
-Non-elective inpatient stays, admitted through the ED
-Non-elective inpatient stays, not admitted through the ED
-Elective inpatient stays

Inpatient service line
-Maternal and neonatal conditions
-Mental health and substance use disorders
-Injuries
-Surgeries
-Other medical conditions

Emergency department treat-and-release visits

Emergency department treat-and-release visits by priority conditions
-COVID-19
-Influenza
-Other acute or viral respiratory infection

Description of the data source, methodology, and clinical criteria

The largest all-payer ambulatory surgery database in the United States, the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS) produces national estimates of major ambulatory surgery encounters in hospital-owned facilities. Major ambulatory surgeries are defined as selected major therapeutic procedures that require the use of an operating room, penetrate or break the skin, and involve regional anesthesia, general anesthesia, or sedation to control pain (i.e., surgeries flagged as "narrow" in the HCUP Surgery Flag Software). Unweighted, the NASS contains approximately 9.0 million ambulatory surgery encounters each year and approximately 11.8 million ambulatory surgery procedures. Weighted, it estimates approximately 11.9 million ambulatory surgery encounters and 15.7 million ambulatory surgery procedures.

Sampled from the HCUP State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD) and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) in order to capture both planned and emergent major ambulatory surgeries, the NASS can be used to examine selected ambulatory surgery utilization patterns. Developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HCUP data inform decision making at the national, State, and community levels.

The NASS contains clinical and resource-use information that is included in a typical hospital-owned facility record, including patient characteristics, clinical diagnostic and surgical procedure codes, disposition of patients, total charges, facility characteristics, and expected source of payment, regardless of payer, including patients covered by Medicaid, private insurance, and the uninsured. The NASS excludes data elements that could directly or indirectly identify individuals, hospitals, or states. The NASS is limited to encounters with at least one in-scope major ambulatory surgery on the record, performed at hospital-owned facilities. Procedures intended primarily for diagnostic purposes are not considered in-scope.

Restricted access data files are available with a data use agreement and brief online security training.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Fast Stats provides easy access to the latest HCUP-based statistics for health care information topics. HCUP Fast Stats uses visual statistical displays in stand-alone graphs, trend figures, or simple tables
to convey complex information at a glance. Fast Stats is updated regularly for timely, topic-specific national and State-level statistics.

Fast Stats topics and graphics on hospital stays and emergency department visits, including information at the national, and state levels, trends over time, and selected priority topics such as:

State Trends in Hospital User by Payer

National Hospital Utilization and Costs

Hurricane Impact on Hospital Use

Opioids & Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

Severe Maternal Morbidity

The HCUP Visualization of Inpatient Trends in COVID-19 and Other Conditions displays State-specific monthly trends in inpatient stays related to COVID-19 and other conditions, and facilitates comparisons of the number of hospital discharges, the average length of stays, and in-hospital mortality rates across patient/stay characteristics and States. This information is based on the HCUP State Inpatient Databases (SID), starting with 2018 data, plus newer annual and quarterly inpatient data, if and when available.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) is an annual survey of private employers and State and local governments. The MEPS-IC produces national and State level estimates of employer-sponsored insurance, including offered plans, costs, employee eligibility, and number of enrollees. With the MEPS-IC Data Tools, users can interactively explore maps, trends, and cross-sectional bar charts for topics related to national and state-level employer-based health insurance for employer characteristics/offerings; employee take-up; premiums; contributions; and cost-sharing. The MEPS-IC is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and is fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) is an annual survey of private employers and State and local governments. The MEPS-IC produces national and State level estimates of employer-sponsored insurance, including offered plans, costs, employee eligibility, and number of enrollees. PDF files are available for complete sets of table series on employer-based health insurance at the national, state, and metropolitan area levels. The MEPS-IC is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and is fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component collects data on all members of sample households from selected communities across the United States. The MEPS-HC Variable Explorer Tool provides a quick and easy way to search across MEPS Public Use Files for variables and files needed for users' research projects.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component collects data on all members of sample households from selected communities across the United States. With the MEPS-HC Data Tools, users can explore trends and cross-sectional bar charts for nationally representative estimates of household medical utilization and expenditures, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, health insurance coverage, accessibility and quality of care, treated medical conditions, and prescribed medicine purchases.