The National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS) contains unique longitudinal microdata on persons aged 65 and older who are chronically impaired. The public-use files distributed by Duke University. Center for Demographic Studies (CDS), have the additional benefit that they are linked to Medicare data available to. authorized researchers from the Health Care financing Administration (HCFA) and include corrected weights and other variables calculated by CDS. This project will provide improved access to these data through convenient search and extraction software and an efficient graphical user interface, reformatted documentation that consolidates in one place all information related to a particular variable, and additional variables representing useful combinations of original variables. The software will be distributed on CD-ROMs and run on PCs under Windows 95, 98 NT, and 2000. In Phase I. tests and analyses will be conducted to determine optimum formats for the data files to be placed on the CD-ROMs and the output files. After consultations with CDS that will provide a full understanding of the survey instruments and linked Medicare files, as well as the experience of existing users. we will define the software functions and the layout of the documentation to be produced in Phase II. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS) contains unique longitudinal microdata on persons aged 65 and older who are chronically impaired. The utilities to be developed under this project will provide greatly improved access to these data. Organizations serving the aged and impaired, such as hospitals, HMOs, insurers. actuarial firms, and pharmaceutical companies, may use these data, as may policy makers and researchers with an interest in health care, aging, and related issues.