2018 NATIONAL AMBULATORY MEDICAL CARE SURVEY PUBLIC USE FILE AND FILE DOCUMENTATION WARNING - DATA USE RESTRICTIONS! Please Read Carefully before Using NCHS Public Use Survey Data The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), conducts statistical and epidemiological activities under the authority granted by the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 242k). NCHS survey data are protected by Federal confidentiality laws including Section 308(d) Public Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 242m(d)] and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act or CIPSEA [Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529 § 302]. These confidentiality laws state the data collected by NCHS may be used only for statistical reporting and analysis. Any effort to determine the identity of individuals and establishments violates the assurances of confidentiality provided by federal law. Terms and Conditions NCHS does all it can to assure that the identity of individuals and establishments 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 an individual 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 attempt to learn the identity of any person or establishment included in these data. 3. Not link this dataset with individually identifiable data from other NCHS or non-NCHS datasets. 4. Not engage in any efforts to assess disclosure methodologies applied to protect individuals and establishments or any research on methods of re-identification of individuals and establishments. By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the above-stated statutorily based requirements. Sanctions for Violating NCHS Data Use Agreement Willfully disclosing any information that could identify a person or establishment in any manner to a person or agency not entitled to receive it, shall be guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The files listed below comprise the 2018 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Public Use File with complete file documentation. Size (bytes) File Name File Description Compressed Uncompressed namcs2018.zip NAMCS dataset 1.0 MB 25.9 MB doc2018-508.pdf NAMCS documentation file 1.1 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, if desired, to house the file, for example, C:\MyFiles\NAMCS2018. 2) Click on the file name namcs2018.zip from the FTP server: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Datasets/NAMCS/ and follow the prompts to save the file to your desired location. 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.