National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) provides data on physician visits for samples of patient records selected from the national universe of office-based physicians. The most current version of this database is 1990. The survey includes a projection factor which allow national estimates to be made on the basis of sample data. Information on each visit record includes primary, secondary, and tertiary diagnoses, patient demography, source of payment, and medical procedures performed.

 

Source: NCHS

Size: 1 reel (43,469 records)

Years: 1990-1994

Media: 9-track tape

Format: EBCDIC Fixed Length

RecordLength: 153

Structure: 1 record per patient physician record

Complexity: Moderate; an operating system utility is available for converting EBCDIC records of fixed length to ASCII.