USING STATA
    
  There are two ways to read the 2012 NAMCS public-use data file into Stata:

  Option 1 - Use the self-extracting compressed file namcs2012-stata.exe in the Stata folder on 
  the FTP server to open a complete Stata dataset of the 2012 NAMCS public use file.

  The steps for this option are as follows:

  1) Create a new folder on your local workstation, for example, C:\MYFILES\NAMCS2012

  2) Download to the new folder the file namcs2012-stata.exe from the FTP server: 
     ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/dataset_documentation/namcs/stata

  3) namcs2012-stata.exe is a self-extracting compressed file which you must uncompress prior to use. 
     In order to do this, double click on the file name in your directory screen and follow the screen 
     prompts.  A new file called namcs2012.dta will be created. This is the Stata dataset. 

  NOTE: The 2012 NAMCS data file is about 106 MB in size. Please use caution and check your disk drive 
  capacity before uncompressing. 


  Option 2 - Use the DO file (*.do) and dictionary file (*.dct) provided in 
  the “Stata Documentation” section of the Ambulatory Health Care Data website, 
  (under Public Use File Documentation) along with the flat data file (*.EXE) 
  in the “Downloadable data files” section, to create a Stata dataset. The file that
  is created will be identical to the file described in Option 1 above. 

  The steps for this option are as follows:

  1) Create a new folder on your local workstation, for example, C:\MYFILES\NAMCS2012

  2) Download to the new folder the 2012 NAMCS dataset (namcs2012.exe) from the FTP server: 
     ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/datasets/namcs

  3) namcs2012.exe is a self-extracting compressed file which must be uncompressed prior to use.
     In order to do this, simply click on the file name in a directory screen; a second file will
     appear in the same folder, about 106MB in size, with the name namcs2012 and no file extension.
     Stata requires a file extension to recognize this as a data file, so simply rename it as namcs2012.raw.

  4) Download to the new folder the namcs2012.do and namcs2012.dct files from the FTP server:
     ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/dataset_documentation/namcs/stata

  4) Open Stata, then open "New Do-file Editor" from the taskbar and enter the following script, making
     sure to point to the folder on your local workstation where you have saved the Stata files:
  
     cd C:\MYFILES\NAMCS2012\
     do namcs2012

     Once this script is in the editor, you can Run Stata from the taskbar.
 
     A note on labels:

     It should be pointed out that Stata will not allow value labels for 
     character (string) format variables.  In the case of NAMCS and NHAMCS data, 
     there are a number of character or string variables, such as DIAG1 (physician's 
     first-listed diagnosis), etc.  For some character variables, we have been able 
     to redefine them as numeric without changing their basic structure and the 
     labels should work.  However, for the diagnosis variables (DIAG1, DIAG2, DIAG3) which 
     actually contain alpha characters (eg "V") in the string, this was not able to be done.  
     We do also have a numeric recode version of the DIAG variables (DIAG1R, DIAG2R, DIAG3R), 
     but these will not match with the character format of the ICD-9-CM codes in many cases, 
     and we do not have a set of labels that match with the numeric recode variables for 
     diagnosis codes.        

     If data users experience difficulties or have suggestions for future releases of these 
     products, please contact the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch at 
     301-458-4600.