National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) Restricted Variables

The majority of NAMCS/NHAMCS variables are publicly available and researchers are highly encouraged to conduct preliminary analyses using these data. Researchers interested in accessing and/or conducting analyses using restricted NAMCS/NHAMCS variables must seek RDC approval. As part of the approval process, researchers are required to have a proposal approved by the RDC. Each proposal must include a data dictionary that describes the variables needed for analysis. Below is a list of the standard restricted variables. Please use this list when creating the data dictionary for your RDC Proposal.

NAMCS and NHAMCS Restricted Data [PDF - 37 KB]

If you are interested in using variables from NAMCS/NHAMCS that are not on the public files nor listed on the above file, please send an inquiry to rdca@cdc.gov. In your email, include a list of questions from the survey instrument for which you were unable to find the corresponding variables. Proposals requesting these types of variables should not be submitted without first contacting rdca@cdc.gov.

• New geocoded data for NAMCS and NHAMCS 1999-2009 are now available at the NCHS Research Data Center. These data consist of distances between each patient’s ZIP Code of residence and the nearest hospital [PDF - 156 KB] and Federally Qualified Health Center [PDF - 136 KB].