Announcements

2007 HCUP Statewide data is now available

Release of the 2007 Statewide Databases for selected States began in July 2008, less than 7 months from the end of the calendar year. In the past, the HCUP Statewide databases were typically available 12 to 18 months following the end of a calendar year. Due to new process improvements and strong relationships with HCUP State Partners, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was able to begin releasing 2007 databases in half that time. This recent database release includes the State Inpatient Databases (SID), State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD), and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) of selected States. 2007 Statewide databases will continue to be released throughout the year.

Researchers and policymakers use these State-specific HCUP databases to investigate questions unique to one State, compare data from two or more States, conduct market area research or small area variation analyses, and identify State-specific trends in utilization, access, quality, charges, and outcomes. As with all HCUP databases, the SID, SASD, and SEDD contain uniformly formatted data built around a core set of more than 100 clinical and nonclinical variables for all patient encounters, regardless of payer (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, self-pay). The core variables include all-listed diagnoses and procedures, patient demographics, expected payment source, and total hospital charges. The files include safeguards to protect the privacy of individual patients, physicians, and hospitals..

Complete descriptions of the HCUP databases along with notification of which States and databases have been released and information on how to obtain HCUP databases (including the necessary Data Use Agreement forms and application kits) can be found in the HCUP Online Product Release Calendar located on the HCUP User Support Web site (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov).

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