A -- MEDICAL EXPENDITURE PANEL SURVEY (MEPS) SUPPORT

Notice Date

November 26, 2001

Contracting Office

Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Division of Contracts Management, 2101 East Jefferson Street, Suite 601, Rockville, MD, 20852

ZIP Code

20852

Solicitation Number

AHRQ-02-0005

Response Due

December 11, 2001

Point of Contact

Grant Darryl, Contracting Officer, Phone 301 594-7189, Fax 301 443-7523, Email dgrant@ahrq.gov -- Jacquelyn Carey, Contracting Officer, Phone 301 594-7191, Fax 301 443-7523, Email jcarey@ahrq.gov

Description

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is soliciting proposals on a full and open competitive basis for a contract to conduct the Household Component of the Medical Panel Expenditure Survey (MEPS), the Medical Provider Component of the MEPS, and conduct the associated data processing to produce analytic files. The base period of the contract is for three and one half years, with two option periods of one year each. The mission of AHRQ (former known as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) is to support, conduct and disseminate research that improves access to care and the outcomes, quality, cost and utilization of health care services. =20 The MEPS is managed in the Center for Cost and Financing Studies at AHRQ. The MEPS is a longitudinal overlapping panel survey. Households enrolled in the MEPS participated in the National Health Interview Survey during a prior year. Each household is interviewed five times during a 30-month period to support two years of estimates for utilization, expenditures and health insurance. In addition, a follow-back survey of medical providers -- physicians, hospitals, home health agencies and pharmacies is conducted each year to support the construction of national estimates of medical expenses. The initial household sample is 9,000 dwelling units and the number of interviews per round will vary between 15,000 and more than 21,000 is the option years are exercised. For the Medical Provider Component, data will need to be collected on more than 11,000 patient-hospital pairs, 30,000 patient-physician pairs, and more than 21,000 patient-pharmacy pairs. Data collected in the MEPS is subjected to significant analytical and statistical editing and imputation for missing values. For each year of the survey, twelve key analytic files are produced. The MEPS website (www.meps.ahrq.gov) provides substantial information on MEPS data collection and data files. The MEPS Household Component is conducted with computer-assisted personal interviewing, supplemented by periodic self-administered questionnaires. The Medical Provider Component data is collected via mail, phone and fax with paper and pencil instruments. The instruments can be located on the website at www.ahrq.gov/survey.htm. The MEPS website is also the main vehicle for our data product dissemination. A complete set of public use files for 1996 and 1997 are available on the website and can be used as a guide for the level of complexity of the analytic file development tasks. =20 The primary objective of MEPS is to provide high quality data to be used for both point estimates as well as distributional estimates of health care use, expenses, health insurance status and sources of payment for medical care. In addition, MEPS also provides measurement of health status and health care quality associated with several high prevalence conditions. The Contractor shall be responsible for the maintenance of the MEPS computer assisted and paper instruments for the Household Component and the Medical Provider Component, for collecting data for a complete panel in the base period, and for collecting data within an overlapping panel design in the option years. The contractor shall also be responsible for the development of a set of analytic files, including documentation, survey weights that adjust for complex design, and for the production of a number of methodology reports. The estimated issuance data of solicitation AHRQ-02-0005 is December 12, 2001, with the proposal due approximately 75 days thereafter. The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will only be available by downloading from the Internet on AHRQ?s Internet site at http://www.ahrq.gov. It is the offeror?s responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation and any subsequent amendments. Since we will not know who is downloading the solicitation, a bidders list will not be available.=20

Web Link

Visit this URL for the latest information about this (http://www.eps.gov/spg/HHS/AHRQ/DCM/AHRQ-02-0005/listing.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20011128/ASOL005.HTM (D-330 SN5136V4)