Source Files

The HCUP Arizona emergency department (ED) files were constructed from a separate ED data file provided by the Arizona Department of Health and Human Services.
Beginning in 2010, the ED data file includes ED treat-and-release visits and the ED visit portion of an encounter that resulted in an inpatient admission to the same hospital as well as the ED visit portion of an encounter that resulted in observation or other outpatient status.

Selection of Records for Inclusion in the SEDD

All records identified by Arizona as ED (i.e., included in the separate ED data file provided to HCUP) are included in the SEDD (HCUP data element STATE_ED=1). This includes the ED visit portion of ED encounters resulting in inpatient admission, observation, or other outpatient status if the record is designated by the data source as a split record. Inpatient-ED split records can be identified by the HCUP variable SPLIT_IPED. Observation/other outpatient service-ED split records can be identified by the HCUP variable OPservice.

Types of Facilities Included in the Files Provided to HCUP by the Partner

The Arizona Department of Health Services provides HCUP with emergency department (ED) data from all licensed hospital-owned EDs in the State. This includes stand-alone (satellite) EDs operating on a Single Group License arrangement under an acute hospital's main campus license.

A comparison of the number of hospitals included in the SEDD and the number of hospitals reported in the AHA Annual Survey is available starting in data year 2010.

Hospital-owned EDs do not always report data for a full calendar year. Some open or close during the year; others have technical problems that prevent them from reporting data for all months in a year.

Exclusion of Records During HCUP Data Processing

Records with a discharge disposition of "still a patient" are excluded from the HCUP SEDD.