Announcements

New HCUP tool for classifying mental health and substance abuse diagnoses is now available

A new tool for researchers working in the fields of mental health and substance abuse is now available from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). The Clinical Classification Software for Mental Health and Substance Abuse (CCS-MHSA) assigns variables that identify mental health and substance abuse-related diagnoses in hospital discharge records using the diagnosis coding of ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification). CCS-MHSA can be used with any data that include ICD-9-CM diagnosis information and can be adapted to work with the particular software a researcher is using. CCS-MHSA can be utilized independently for studies focusing solely on mental health and/or substance abuse conditions, or used in conjunction with the original Clinical Classifications Software (CCS). This original software provides a method for classifying diagnoses or procedures into clinically meaningful categories that help to facilitate aggregate statistical reporting.

Like all HCUP tools and software, the CCS-MHSA is free and can be downloaded from the HCUP-US Web site. To access HCUP and its tools, go to http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/

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