Source Files

The HCUP South Carolina inpatient files were constructed from confidential data files supplied by the South Carolina State Budget and Control Board.

From January 2003-September 2015, any ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes indicating medical misadventures and adverse reactions are removed from the inpatient data. There are no similar restrictions under ICD-10-CM.

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

The South Carolina data include inpatient stays from acute care hospitals. The documentation supplied by South Carolina indicates that stays in long-term care facilities were excluded by South Carolina from the supplied data.

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

Hospitals do not always report data for a full calendar year. Some hospitals open or close during the year; other hospitals have technical problems that prevent them from reporting data for all months in a year.

Inclusion of Stays in Special Units

The documentation supplied by South Carolina does indicate that information on stays in special units (e.g., psychiatric, substance use, rehabilitation, and swing beds) within the hospital is included in the data. However, these records cannot be identified. Inpatient stays in long-term care units are not included in the data.

Exclusion of Records During HCUP Data Processing

Records with a discharge disposition of "still a patient" and "admitted as an inpatient" were excluded from the HCUP South Carolina inpatient data.