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KID Description of Data Elements

 
H_REGION - Hospital census region
 
Documentation Sections:
General Notes
Uniform Values
State Specific Notes
General Notes
 

The HCUP variable name for the hospital's census region has changed over time. In the 1988-1992 NIS, the hospital's bedsize category was stored in the variable ST_REG. In the 1993-1997 NIS, this same information is stored in the variable H_REGION. Beginning with the 1998 NIS, the name HOSP_REGION is used.

This is an important stratifier because practice patterns have been shown to vary substantially by region. For example, lengths of stay tend to be longer in East Coast hospitals than in West Coast hospitals.

The hospital's census region was obtained from the AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals. Census region is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The states included in each region are as follows:

  • Northeast (H_REGION = 1) includes ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, and PA.
  • Midwest (H_REGION = 2) includes OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO, ND, SD, NE, and KS.
  • South (H_REGION = 3) includes DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, KY, TN, AL, MS, AR, LA, OK, and TX.
  • West (H_REGION = 4) includes MT, ID, WY, CO, NM, AZ, UT, NV, WA, OR, CA, AK, and HI.

The Midwest region was referred to as "North Central" in the 1988-1992 NIS.

 
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Uniform Values
VariableDescriptionValueValue Description
H_REGIONHospital census region1Northeast
2Midwest or North Central
3South
4West
 
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State Specific Notes
None
 
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Internet Citation: HCUP KID Description of Data Elements. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). September 2008. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/vars/h_region/kidnote.jsp.
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Last modified 9/17/08