Fall 2022
Issue #72
Contents
News and Announcements: Notable news from HCUP
Databases and Products: New database and product releases
Publication Spotlights: Recent works incorporating HCUP data and tools
HCUP Q&A: Answers to your HCUP questions
HCUP Events: Upcoming HCUP conferences and meetings
Missed the last HCUP e-News? Read it on the HCUP-US website.
Now Available: 2020 National Inpatient Sample (NIS)
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released the 2020 National Inpatient Sample (NIS). A powerful database that contains data from more than 7 million hospital inpatient records, the NIS is drawn from 48 States and the District of Columbia, covering 98 percent of the U.S. population. NIS data can be weighted to produce national estimates, allowing researchers and policymakers to identify, track, and analyze national trends in inpatient utilization, access, costs, quality, and outcomes. The NIS is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient healthcare database in the United States.
The 2020 NIS can be purchased through the HCUP Central Distributor. Earlier years of the NIS also are available. Users are encouraged to sign up for the HCUP Mailing List to be notified of upcoming database releases.
Coming Soon: 2020 Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), and Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD)
AHRQ is preparing to release the 2020 Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), and Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD). The 2020 nationwide databases are annual calendar-year, all-payer files with diagnoses and procedures reported using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/PCS) and, for outpatient procedures, Current Procedural Terminology® codes. Data elements derived from the following HCUP software tools will be available in the Diagnosis and Procedure Groups files of the 2020 nationwide databases: the Elixhauser Comorbidity Software Refined for ICD-10-CM, the Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) for ICD-10-CM diagnoses and ICD-10-PCS procedures, and the Procedure Classes Refined for ICD-10-PCS.
The HCUP nationwide databases can be used for analysis of special populations or healthcare settings:
The 2020 NASS, NEDS, and NRD will be available for purchase through the HCUP Central Distributor. Earlier years of the nationwide databases also are available. Users are encouraged to sign up for the HCUP Mailing List to be notified of upcoming database releases.
Learn About HCUP During the Fall Webinar Series-Registration Is Now Open!
From October 18 to 20, 2022, AHRQ will host a 3-day webinar series for users interested in learning more about HCUP. The series will begin on October 18 with the HCUP Database Overview, a presentation that will include an introduction to the HCUP family of healthcare databases and a discussion of how to obtain and access the data as well as other HCUP resources. On October 19, HCUP staff will provide an Overview of HCUP Products and Tools, which will cover the use of HCUP research tools to facilitate and augment research. This presentation will also include an overview of HCUP products that offer readily available statistics, such as HCUPnet and Fast Stats. On October 20, the series will conclude with Using the HCUP Supplemental Files. This session will provide a detailed look at selected HCUP Supplemental Files, such as the Cost-to-Charge-Ratio (CCR) for Inpatient and Emergency Department Files and the American Hospital Association (AHA) Linkage Files, both of which are for use exclusively with the HCUP databases.
The webinars will last 1 hour and are open to the public. Additional details about the webinars, including registration information, are posted on the HCUP Workshops and Webinars page of the HCUP-US website.
Join Us for a Virtual HCUP Data Users' Workshop in November
AHRQ will sponsor an intermediate-level 2-day virtual Planning Your HCUP Analysis workshop on November 2-3, 2022. This virtual workshop will walk through considerations and recommendations to assist researchers in planning analyses that use the HCUP databases and research tools. Attendees will learn how to determine which HCUP database best suits their analysis given their population and healthcare setting of interest. Presenters will also discuss how HCUP research tools can be used to help define conditions or procedures of interest. Additionally, the workshop will include guidance for decision making related to specific outcomes, such as cost of care and readmissions. For participants who are not familiar with the HCUP databases and research tools, we highly recommend attending the HCUP Fall Webinar Series presentations on October 18-20 or reviewing the Online HCUP Overview Course and HCUP Software Tools Tutorial before attending the workshop.
Registration opens on October 19, 2022. Additional details about the workshop, including a full description and registration information, will be available on the HCUP Workshops and Webinars page of the HCUP-US website.
HCUP Award for Outstanding Research: Call for Nominations Opens October 17
Nominations will soon be accepted for the thirteenth installation of the HCUP Award for Outstanding Research sponsored by AHRQ and AcademyHealth. Since its inception in 2010 under the title Article of the Year Award, the HCUP award has recognized researchers who used the HCUP databases to explore and address clinical or policy-related healthcare issues. Award recipients will be notified by email by April 21, 2023, and publicly announced during the 2023 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM), taking place June 25-27 in Seattle, Washington. The winning authors will receive complimentary conference registration and have posters of their work created and showcased during the conference.
More information on the HCUP Award, including requirements for eligibility, can be found in the HCUP Q&A section of this newsletter.
New HCUP Findings-At-A-Glance Related to Emergency Department Visits for Dental Conditions
A new data brief from AHRQ has been added to HCUP Findings-At-A-Glance, Treat-and-Release Emergency Department Visits for Dental Conditions and Related Costs: Variation Across the United States by Census Region and State, 2016 and 2019. HCUP Findings-At-A-Glance provides a focused look at different topics across a broad range of health policy issues related to hospital use and costs. This report, developed in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, complements the existing literature by providing national, regional, and State-level estimates of treat-and-release emergency department visits for dental conditions and associated costs by expected primary payer, patient race and ethnicity, and patient age group. This information can help policymakers identify geographic areas and patient subpopulations that could benefit most from improved access to comprehensive dental coverage and interventions aimed at increasing preventive and routine dental care.
The following figure from the data brief displays the number and aggregate cost of treat-and-release emergency department visits for nontraumatic dental conditions by patient age group in the United States for 2019. In total, there were 1,933,495 visits, 15.5 percent of which were for patients aged 0-17 years old, 60.3 percent for ages 18-44 years, 18.9 percent for ages 45-64 years, and 5.3 percent for ages 65+ years. Total costs for treat-and-release emergency department visits for nontraumatic dental conditions in 2019 amounted to $468,027,202, 12.8 precent of which was attributed to patients aged 0-17 years, 55 percent to ages 18-44 years, 23.1 percent to ages 45-64 years, and 9.1 percent to ages 65+ years.
Some Findings-At-A-Glance data briefs will provide a one-time examination of a specific topic. Others will be updated periodically with the latest data. This data brief and others can be accessed from the Reports section of the HCUP-US website.
AHRQ Quality Indicator (QI) Software v2022 Released
AHRQ is pleased to announce that v2022 of the AHRQ Quality Indicator (QI) Software has been launched. The AHRQ QIs are measures of healthcare quality that can be used with readily available hospital inpatient administrative data to measure and track clinical performance and outcomes. The AHRQ QI modules represent Prevention, Inpatient, Patient Safety, and Pediatric quality of care.
The new software update includes Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 ICD-10-CM/PCS coding updates and is backward compatible through FY 2016. The v2022 software will calculate risk-adjusted rates based on a full year of ICD-10-CM/PCS-coded all-payer data from the 2019 HCUP State Inpatient Databases (SID). The software is available for download in both SAS® QI and WinQI format from the AHRQ QI website at www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/Software/Default.aspx.
Recently Released: 2021 and Additional 2019-2020 State Databases
Since June 2022, the following State databases have been released:
In addition, the 2020 NIS has been released. The 2020 NASS, NEDS, and NRD are scheduled for release later this year. Complete listings of available databases by year can be found in the Database Catalog on the HCUP-US website. Databases can be purchased online through the HCUP Central Distributor, and aggregated national and selected State statistics can be accessed via HCUPnet.
New HCUP Statistical Briefs Posted on HCUP-US
Since June 2022, the following HCUP Statistical Briefs have been released:
To access these and other Statistical Briefs, please visit the HCUP Statistical Briefs page on the HCUP-US website.
Question: A colleague recently told me about the HCUP Award for Outstanding Research. I am interested in applying for the recognition but have some questions about the award and my eligibility:
Answers:
What is the HCUP Award for Outstanding Research, and how often does it occur?
The HCUP Award for Outstanding Research is a recognition of achievement in healthcare research sponsored by AHRQ and AcademyHealth. The award, previously called the HCUP Outstanding Article of the Year Award, will be presented on a biennial cycle starting with 2023. Applications for the award will be accepted starting October 17, 2022.
How do I determine my eligibility, and is there a limit on how many articles I can submit?
Authors who used the HCUP databases in their research and whose articles were published in hard-copy format in a peer-reviewed journal during January 1, 2021—June 30, 2022, are eligible for consideration. Electronic publications ahead of print will not qualify—they can be considered for the next award cycle once they are published in their final format. Additionally, articles must meet the publishing requirements of the HCUP Data Use Agreement.
Authors may self-nominate or be nominated by another individual. One nomination per author/individual/research group per category will be accepted. For those nominating an individual, please notify the author. When the application period opens, a nomination form with instructions on submission will be available for download on the HCUP Award for Outstanding Research page of the HCUP-US website.
What are the submission criteria that reviewers consider when evaluating each article?
Articles will be reviewed and rated on the following core criteria:
Who determines the winners, and when are they announced?
An internal AHRQ and AcademyHealth HCUP Award Committee reviews all applications. The committee will choose the award recipients based on the criteria outlined above.
Winners will be notified via email by April 21, 2023. They will be recognized publicly during an HCUP session at the 2023 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) taking place in Seattle, Washington, on June 25-27, 2023.
Are there examples of winning articles?
A full list of previous award recipients by year and hyperlinks to their abstracts can be found on the HCUP Award for Outstanding Research Archive page of the HCUP-US website.
For a complete list of HCUP presentations and events, visit the HCUP Events Calendar.
The HCUP e-News is available online on the HCUP-US website and distributed via the HCUP Mailing List.
For more information and questions regarding the HCUP e-News, please email hcup@ahrq.gov