Design alternatives for integrating the National Medical Expenditure Survey with the National Health Interview Survey.

Research was undertaken to evaluate alternative methods of selecting a sample of eligible respondents for the National Medical Expenditure Survey (NM ES) from the National Health Interview Survey (N HIS). This report presents estimates of the effects of alternative design options, obtained by statistical modeling techniques, for linking the NMES with the NH IS, The estimated survey costs for alternative linked and unlinked design options are compared for fixed precision. The findings indicate that substantial savings would be realized by linking the NMES to the NHIS if a premium is put on small-domain estimates.