HOW ARE THE DATA USED?
The MCBS helps legislators and policy makers better understand the people who are covered by Medicare.
RESEARCH STUDIES USING THE MCBS
Click on the studies below to learn more about MCBS research findings.
RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS
MCBS Interactives contains interactive dashboards which present statistically accurate, weighted estimates from Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Public Use Files (PUF). You can use this tool to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Medicare beneficiaries.
The MCBS Public Use File (PUF) contains a subset of MCBS data with a focus on beneficiaries’ health and wellbeing. Disclosure protections have been applied to the file, including de-identification and other methods; as a result, the MCBS PUF does not require a Data Use Agreement. These data are intended to support research on the Medicare program. Link to the site to access these data and for more information on:
- Data integrity and potential limitations
- User agreement details
- Privacy protection
The Limited Data Set Files (LDS) contain beneficiary level health information (excluding any direct identifiers, as outlined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA Privacy Rule)). The LDS includes Medicare claims in the standard analytical files, as well as information about beneficiary characteristics and enrollment. Link to the site to access these data and form for more information on:
- The Data Use agreement
- Related files
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE DATA
Your answers are protected under the Federal Privacy Act of 1974. The information you report is combined with information provided by many others and only used to describe Medicare beneficiaries as a group. No information that could identify you individually is publicly released.
To learn more about the data, you may visit the MCBS page on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid website: https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Research/MCBS/index?redirect=/mcbs