2015 NATIONAL AMBULATORY MEDICAL CARE SURVEY PUBLIC USE FILE AND FILE DOCUMENTATION WARNING - DATA USE RESTRICTIONS! Read Carefully before Using The Public Health Service Act (Section 308 (d)) provides that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may be used only for the purpose of health statistical reporting and analysis. Any effort to determine the identity of any reported case is prohibited by this law. NCHS does all it can to assure that the identity of data subjects cannot be disclosed. All direct identifiers, as well as any characteristics that might lead to identification, are omitted from the dataset. Any intentional identification or disclosure of a person or establishment violates the assurances of confidentiality given to the providers of the information. Therefore, users will: 1. Use the data in this dataset for statistical reporting and analysis only. 2. Make no use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director, NCHS, of any such discovery. 3. Not link this dataset with individually identifiable data from other NCHS or non-NCHS datasets. By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the above-stated statutorily based requirements. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The files listed below comprise the 2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Public Use File with complete file documentation. Size (bytes) File Name File Description Compressed Uncompressed namcs2015.ZIP NAMCS dataset 3.0 MB 75.1 MB doc2015.PDF NAMCS documentation file 1.6 MB Prior to the 1999 data release, the NAMCS documentation was produced in multiple files which were then compressed into a single self-extracting file in ASCII format. Beginning with the 1999 release, the documentation file has been produced as a single file in PDF format which can be viewed or downloaded from the above address. This file is not compressed. For ease of transmission, the data file has been converted into a zipped (compressed) format which must be uncompressed prior to use. To uncompress, you can do the following: 1) Create a new folder on your local workstation, for example, C:\MYFILES\NAMCS2015 2) Download to the new folder the file namcs2015.zip from the FTP server: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Datasets/NAMCS/ 3) Right-click on the name of the compressed file from your directory screen. On the pop-up menu, there should be an option to extract the file to a location of your choosing. *************************************************************************************************** NOTE: Detailed instructions for SAS, Stata, and SPSS users are provided in separate readme files within each of these FTP folders: For SAS users: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NAMCS/sas/ For Stata users: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NAMCS/stata/ For SPSS users: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NAMCS/spss/ IMPORTANT: Starting with 2015 NAMCS, we are also providing complete pre-made SPSS, Stata, and SAS data sets, in addition to providing the code needed to create your own data sets. Please see the detailed instructions for more information. These pre-made files are also in the SAS, Stata, and SPSS folders cited above. **************************************************************************************************** CAUTION - Because the NAMCS is a sample survey, the application of weights to the sample data is REQUIRED to produce national estimates of office visits, as well as to accurately assess the sampling error of statistics based on the survey data. Please refer to the appropriate sections of the documentation file for information on how to apply the weights and to obtain relative standard errors of national estimates. For questions, suggestions, or comments concerning NAMCS data, please contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch at (301) 458-4600 or by email at ambcare@cdc.gov. For additional information on NCHS data products, please call CDC-INFO at 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636), TTY (888-232-6348), Monday-Friday 8am-8pm EST, or use the CDC-INFO online request form at https://www.cdc.gov/info.