DOI: 10.3886/icpsr07730
title: National Survey of Access to Medical Care, 1975-1976
title: Archival Version

description: This study was undertaken for the purpose of providing
baseline national indicators of access to health care for an
evaluation of a program of hospital-based primary care group practices
funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The main objective of
that large-scale social experiment was to improve access to medical
care for the population in areas served by the groups. The access
framework and questionnaires designed for the study were developed to
provide empirical indicators of the concept that could be used to
monitor progress toward this objective. Five data collection
instruments were used by the study: the Household Enumeration Folder,
the Main Questionnaire, the Health Opinions Questionnaire, the
Physician Supplement, and the Hospital/Extended Care Supplement. The
Household Enumeration Folder collected basic demographic information
on all household members and served as a screener for the episode of
illness and minority oversamples. The Main Questionnaire collected
information on disability, symptoms of illness, episodes of illness,
socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and access to health
care: sources of medical care utilized, problems associated with
access to sources of care (e.g., transportation, parking, waiting time
for an appointment), satisfaction with medical services received,
utilization of medical diagnostic procedures, dental care, and eye
care, and insurance coverage and out-of-pocket expenditures for health
care. Respondents' opinions concerning the medical care that they
received were gauged by the Health Opinions Questionnaire. The
Physician Supplement and the Hospital/Extended Care Supplement
collected information on physicians contacted and facilities utilized
in connection with reported episodes of illness. File 1, File 2, and
File 3 constitute the data files for this collection. File 1 comprises
data from the Household Enumeration Folder, the Main Questionnaire,
and the Health Opinions Questionnaire, plus variables from secondary
sources, such as characteristics, derived from the American Medical
Association Physician Masterfile, of physicians named as caregivers by
respondents, and medical shortage data, from various sources, for the
respondent's county of residence. File 2 contains the data from the
Physician Supplement, while File 3 provides the data collected by the
Hospital/Extended Care Supplement.
description: A self-weighting probability sample was selected using the
 National Opinion Research Center master sample. In addition, special
 oversamples were selected for three groups: persons experiencing
 episodes of illness, southern non-SMSA Blacks, and southwestern
Spanish-heritage persons.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: File 1: Data From Main Questionnaire and Other Sources
DS2: File 2: Physician Supplement Data
DS3: File 3: Hospital/Extended Care Supplement Data
description: Noninstitutionalized population of the United States.
description: The weight variable V805 is a character (string) variable written in scientific notation with nine significant digits. Variable V857 is a numeric version of V805 that is rounded to six significant digits.