jueves, 4 de diciembre de 2014

HCUP Quarterly eNews, Winter 2014, Issue 41

HCUP Quarterly eNews, Winter 2014, Issue 41

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project e-News bulletin logo



Contents

News and Announcements: Notable news from HCUP
Databases and Products: New database and product releases
Publication Spotlights: Recent works incorporating HCUP data and tools
HCUP Q&A: Answers to your HCUP questions

Missed the last e-News? Read it on the HCUP-US Web site.


News and Announcements

Coming Soon: The 2012 NEDS

The 2012 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) is planned to be released later this month. The NEDS is the largest all-payer emergency department (ED) database in the United States and contains information about geographic, hospital, patient, and visit characteristics.

The NEDS enables analyses of ED utilization patterns and yields information that supports public health professionals, administrators, policymakers, and clinicians in decisionmaking regarding this critical source of care.

Once released, the 2012 NEDS will be available for purchase through the HCUP Central Distributor, and select aggregated statistics can be accessed via HCUPnet.


Purchase HCUP Data Online

HCUP databases and supplemental files can now be purchased online through the HCUP Central Distributor. Data users may add HCUP databases and supplemental files to their shopping cart and generate price quotes. Complete database availability and pricing information is available in the Database Catalog, which is found by navigating to the online HCUP Central Distributor.

All data will continue to be shipped on CDs and DVDs, and purchasers must complete the online HCUP Data Use Agreement Training Course and create a user account to submit an order.

For questions related to purchasing HCUP data, please contact the HCUP Central Distributor.


Updated Community-level Statistics on HCUPnet Includes Prevention Quality Indicators

The Community-level Statistics query path on HCUPnet has been updated to include 2012 data for participating States. In addition to the annual update, the query path includes new features that are available to users interested in expanding their investigation of county-level statistics. The updated query path now includes an age-sex adjustment, additional Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) and Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) categories, and county-level Prevention Quality Indicators (PQIs).


Now Available: Toolkits to Improve Collection of Race/Ethnicity and Clinical Information

HCUP has released two new toolkits titled the Race and Ethnicity Data Improvement Toolkit and the Clinical Content Enhancement Toolkit. The toolkits provide practical tools and guidance to statewide data organizations, hospitals, and other organizations interested in improving the quality of their administrative health care data. The newly added toolkits are based on the products and experiences from eight grantees that were awarded AHRQ Enhanced State Data Grantsin September 2010.

Both toolkits are available on the HCUP-US Web site. For questions regarding the toolkits or the AHRQ Enhanced State Data Grants, please contact HCUP User Support.


Get News From HCUP on AHRQ’s LinkedIn Group Page

AHRQ created a Data Resources group page on LinkedIn as a forum for discussion about HCUP and other AHRQ data resources. It is also a vehicle for disseminating news and information about AHRQ findings. Researchers, clinicians, purchasers, policymakers, and others can use HCUP data to better understand hospital inpatient and hospital outpatient visits and costs. The group is monitored by an AHRQ staff person. Please join the AHRQ Data Resources page today!


Help AHRQ Promote Your HCUP Data Impact

Have you used HCUP data to influence clinical practice, improve policies, or affect patient outcomes? If so, AHRQ would like to spotlight your project on its Web site and promote it through AHRQ’s social media venues, to which you then will be able to link in your own marketing outreach. For your project to be eligible for this AHRQ promotion, you must submit impact case studies that show how policies or clinical practices have changed as a result of using AHRQ’s resources. These impact studies are not about presentations, nor are they journal citations. Here are previous examples of how others have made an impact using HCUP data:


If you've used HCUP in this way, please contact us at Impactcasestudies@ahrq.hhs.gov. AHRQ’s case studies team will respond to learn more about your story.


Job Opening at AHRQ: Health Economist for the HCUP Team

AHRQ has an opening for a Health Economist Staff Service Fellow. The Economist will join the HCUP team and perform, among other responsibilities, various analyses using HCUP data and software tools. The deadline to apply for this position is Wednesday, December 17, 2014. A full description of the position and instructions for application submission are available on the American Economic Association (AEA) Web site.



Databases and Products

Recently Released: 2013 State Databases

Since September 2014, the following 2013 State databases have been released:


Complete listings of available databases by year can be found on the HCUP-US Web site. Databases can be purchased online through the HCUP Central Distributor, and aggregated statistics for selected States can be accessed via HCUPnet.

For database purchasing questions, please contact the HCUP Central Distributor.


Publication Spotlights

New HCUP Statistical Briefs Posted on HCUP-US

Since September 2014, the following HCUP Statistical Briefs have been released:

#178 Geographic Variation in Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for Acute and Chronic Conditions, 2005-2011
#179 Trends in Emergency Department Visits, 2006–2011
#180 Overview of Hospital Stays in the United States, 2012
#181 Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2012
#182 Characteristics of Medicaid and Uninsured Hospitalizations, 2012
#183 Trends and Projections in Hospital Stays for Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions, 2003–2014
#184 Characteristics of Hospital Stays for Nonelderly Medicaid Super-Utilizers, 2012 
#185 Utilization of Intensive Care Services, 2011

 These and other Statistical Briefs can be found on the HCUP-US Web site.


Publications Using HCUP Data

Young MT, Jafari MD, Gebhart A, et al. A decade analysis of trends and outcomes of bariatric surgery in medicare beneficiaries. J Am Coll Surg 2014 Sep;219(3):480-8.

This study uses the 2001–2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) in order to investigate how the outcome of bariatric surgery has changed for Medicare beneficiaries over a 9-year period. An article abstract is available via PubMed.

Jacobs JH, Viboud C, Tchetgen ET, et al. The association of meningococcal disease with influenza in the United States, 1989–2009. PLoS One 2014 Sep 29;9(9):Article ID e107486 (online publication).

This study uses the 1989−2009 State Inpatient Databases (SID) from nine States to analyze the relationship of Influenza infection and Meningococcal disease. An article abstract is available via PubMed.

To read additional recently published articles featuring HCUP data, please visit the Research Spotlights page on theHCUP-US Web site.


HCUP Q&A

Question: I have discovered that some hospital characteristics for some hospitals (e.g., bed size or teaching status) have changed between data years. Why is this?

Answer: 

The variability in hospital characteristics can come from several sources that are related to the way a facility reports data to the American Hospital Association (AHA) each year.  

HCUP assigns hospital identifiers to the records based on the AHA’s definition of a facility. For most hospitals, the HCUP hospital identifier (HOSPID) will be the same across years. If, however, there were hospital mergers or demergers that resulted in assignment of a new AHAID for a particular hospital, then the HOSPID may not be the same across years.

The characteristics of a facility drawn from the AHA data may change when a new AHAID is assigned. This is because the AHA may define facilities based on their financial reporting arrangements rather than on individual physical locations. Facilities that are members of a hospital system may report to the AHA under a single identifier. For example, the AHA defines a multihospital system as two or more hospitals owned, leased, sponsored, or contract managed by a central organization. If these arrangements change over time, then the AHA identifiers and the reported characteristics may change. Thus, it is possible for the hospital characteristics in the HCUP databases to also change to reflect the new (merged or demerged) reporting entities and their characteristics.

Even without mergers and demergers, hospital characteristics do sometimes change.  For example, the ownership or the number of beds could change. 

Additional information regarding the reconciliation of the hospital identifiers used by HCUP and the AHA Annual Survey data can be found on the HCUP-US Web site

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