2004 Aug 16: US Factual Memorandum: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), formerly AHCPR, is an operating division of the Department of Health and Human Services comprising several subdivisions that have addressed smoking issues, one of which is the Center for Cost and Financing Studies that administers national health care cost surveys.

    The 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) that was administered by this office and surveyed approximately 30,000 subjects has been used by academics, expert witnesses in litigation and government agencies to measure the health care costs resulting from smoking because the survey linked information about smoking behavior to disease and medical expenditure and utilization data in a large cross-section of the national population. A sample of the medical expenditure data was confirmed using medical billing records.

    For each medical encounter in NMES, the reasons for the encounter are summarized using ICD-9 codes. For example, the ICD-9 diagnosis code for lung cancer is 162.