The HCUP variable for hospital bedsize changed names and definitions across data years:

For ST_BEDSZ, the hospital bedsize category is nested within location and teaching status (LOCTEACH).

The hospital's location, teaching status, and bedsize were obtained from the AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals. Teaching hospitals have an AMA-approved residency program or have membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals. Bedsize assesses the number of short-term acute beds in a hospital.

Hospital bedsize (ST_BEDSZ) is missing for some zero-weight hospitals for which the information was not available (see the File Composition for the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for a definition of zero-weight hospitals). Zero-weight hospitals are included in the 1988-1992 data for NIS, Release 1. Because relatively few hospitals were affected and the complexity of including these hospitals entailed considerable processing burden and costs, no zero-weight hospitals are included after 1992 in NIS Release 2 through Release 6.