Flat Fee Variables. A flat fee is the fixed dollar amount a person is charged for a package of health care services provided during a defined period of time. Because MEPS does not collect flat fee information about home health events, no flat fee variables are included in this file.
Flat Fee Variables. Definition of Flat Fee Payments A flat fee is the fixed dollar amount a person is charged for a package of health care services. Examples would be: obstetrician’s fee covering a normal delivery, as well as pre- and post-natal care; or a surgeon’s fee covering surgical procedure and post-surgical care. A flat fee group is the set of medical services (i.e., events) that are covered under the same flat fee payment situation. The flat fee groups represented on this file (and all of the other 1996 MEPS event files) includes flat fee groups where at least one of the health care events, as reported by the HC respondent, occurred during 1996. By definition a flat fee group can span multiple years and/or event types (e.g., hospital stay, physician office visit), and a single person can have multiple flat fee groups. Flat Fee Variable Descriptions There are several variables on this file that describe a flat fee payment situation and the number of medical events that are part of a flat fee group. As noted previously, for a person, the variable FFID11X can be used to identify all events that are part of the same flat fee group. To identify such events, FFID11X should be used to link events from all MEPS event files (excluding prescribed medicines): HC-010B through HC-010H. For the emergency room visits that are not part of a flat fee payment situation, the flat fee variables described below are all set to inapplicable (-1). Flat Fee Type (FFERTYPX) FFERTYPX indicates whether the 1996 emergency room visit is the “stem” or “leaf” of a flat fee group. A stem (records with FFERTYPX = 1) is the initial medical service (event) which is followed by other medical events that are covered under the same flat fee payment. The leaf of the flat fee group (records with FFERTYPX = 2) are those medical events that are tied back to the initial medical event (the stem) in the flat fee group.
Flat Fee Variables. User’s Note: For home health events, use flat fee variables with caution. Flat fees are not common with respect to home health events (only 18 home health provider events are identified as being part of a flat fee) and should not be a focus of an analysis.
Flat Fee Variables. Definition of Flat Fee Payments A flat fee is the fixed dollar amount a person is charged for a package of health care services. Examples would be: obstetrician’s fee covering a normal delivery, as well as pre- and post-natal care. A flat fee group is the set of medical services (i.e., events) that are covered under the same flat fee payment situation. The flat fee groups represented on this file (and all of the other 1996 MEPS event files), include flat fee groups where at least one of the health care events, as reported by the HC respondent, occurred during 1996. By definition a flat fee group can span multiple years and/or event types (e.g., hospital stay, physician office visit), and a single person can have multiple flat fee groups. Flat Fee Variable Descriptions There are several variables on this file that describe a flat fee payment situation and the number of medical events that are part of a flat fee group. As noted previously, for a person, the variable FFID11X can be used to identify all events, that are part of the same flat fee group. To identify such events, FFID11X should be used to link events from all MEPS event files (excluding prescribed medicines): HC-010B through HC-010H. For the office-based visit that are not part of a flat fee payment situation, the flat fee variables described below are all set to inapplicable (-1). Flat Fee Type (FFOBTYPX) FFOBTYPX indicates whether the 1996 office-based medical provider visit is the “stem” or “leaf” of a flat fee group. A stem (records with FFOBTYPX = 1) is the initial medical service (event) which is followed by other medical events that are covered under the same flat fee payment. The leaf of the flat fee group (records with FFOBTYPX = 2) are those medical events that are tied back to the initial medical event (the stem) in the flat fee group.
Flat Fee Variables
