HEALTHCARE COST & UTILIZATION PROJECT

User Support

Do Your own analysis
Explore Expert Research & Limited Datasets

NIS Description of Data Elements

 
HCUP_ED - HCUP indicator of emergency department record
 
Documentation Sections:
General Notes
Uniform Values
State Specific Notes
General Notes
 

HCUP_ED indicates records that have evidence of emergency department (ED) services reported on the HCUP record. A value of 1 or more indicates that there is evidence of ED services, per HCUP criteria. A value of 0 marks records that do not include evidence of ED services.

The criteria used to identify ED services has changed over time. Evidence of ED services includes:

  • Emergency department revenue code of 450-459 on record.
  • Positive emergency department charge, when revenue center codes are not available.
  • Emergency department CPT codes reported on record
    • 99281-99285
    • 99288 (added in data year 2018)
    • G0380-G0384 (added in data year 2018)
  • Condition Code of P7 (NUBC preferred coding for public reporting as of July 1, 2010)
  • Point of origin of ED (NUBC preferred coding from October 1, 2007 to June 30, 2010)
  • Admission source of ED (NUBC preferred coding prior to October 1, 2007).

It is possible that records with HCUP_ED=0 did in fact have ED services, but that relevant coding information was not captured on the HCUP record.

The availability of the data element HCUP_ED varies by HCUP database:

  • State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) beginning in 2003
  • State Inpatient Databases (SID) beginning in 2005
  • Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) beginning in 2007
  • State Ambulatory Surgery Databases beginning in 2003.

Specific to the HCUP SEDD only: HCUP Partner organizations may have different criteria for identifying ED services. Records that are identified by the HCUP Partner as ED visits that are not admitted to the same hospital are included in the SEDD files, regardless of whether the record meets the HCUP ED criteria specified above. In these records, the HCUP_ED variable will be set to 0 in the SEDD. Please refer to the HCUP_ED State Specific Notes for more details.

 
Top
 
Uniform Values
VariableDescriptionValueValue Description
HCUP_EDHCUP indicator of emergency department record0Record does not meet any HCUP Emergency Department criteria
1Emergency Department revenue code on record
2Positive Emergency Department charge (when revenue center codes are not available)
3Emergency Department CPT procedure code on record
4Condition code P7 indication of ED admission, point of origin of ED, or admission source of ED
 
Top
 
 
State Specific Notes
None
 
Top
 
 

Internet Citation: HCUP NIS 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/hcup_ed/nisnote.jsp.
Are you having problems viewing or printing pages on this website?
If you have comments, suggestions, and/or questions, please contact hcup@ahrq.gov.
Privacy Notice, Viewers & Players
Last modified 9/17/08