Discharge quarter (DQTR) is derived from either the month of the discharge date or the supplied discharge quarter. If both of those fields are invalid or missing, DQTR is set to zero. For these cases, a temporary discharge quarter = 3 was used for the DRG grouper and ICD-9-CM verification routines because these algorithms require a valid discharge quarter.

For HCUP inpatient data only, a temporary discharge quarter = 3 was used for the DRG grouper and ICD-9-CM verification routines when the discharge quarter was missing or invalid because these algorithms require a valid discharge quarter.

In 1995, discharges in October are noticeably fewer than in other months by about 25%. This pattern is consistent across all hospitals in the state. No explanation of the shortfall was available from the HCUP Partner. This did not occur in other years of data.

Beginning in 2004, Florida supplied discharge dates for all records. In 1997- 2003, Florida did not supply discharge date. DQTR was assigned from the discharge quarter provided by Florida.