The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is pleased to announce more releases of State data for the 2008 data year from the Agency’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). HCUP is a Federal-State-Industry partnership that brings together the data collection efforts of state data organizations, hospital associations, private data organizations, and the Federal government to create a national information resource of encounter-level health care data.

The 2008 database releases include the State Inpatient Databases (SID), State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD), and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) of selected states. Researchers and policy makers can use these state-specific HCUP databases to investigate questions unique to one state, compare data from two or more states, conduct market area research or small area variation analyses, and identify state-specific trends in utilization, access, quality, charges, and outcomes. More State databases will be released throughout the year.

The State Inpatient Databases contain the universe of inpatient discharge abstracts for participating states. Currently, SID data from the 2008 data year are available for Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. These databases complement the numerous SID files that are already available for the years 1994-2007.

The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases feature ambulatory surgery encounter abstracts from hospital-affiliated, and in some cases, freestanding, ambulatory surgery sites within participating states. Currently, SASD data from the 2008 data year are available for Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina,, and Wisconsin, adding to the existing collection of SASD files available for years 1997-2007.

The State Emergency Department Databases contain discharge information on all emergency department visits that do not result in a hospital admission. AHRQ is pleased to have 2008 data files available for Arizona, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina,, and Wisconsin. SEDD files are also available for the years 1999-2007.

As with all HCUP databases, the SID, SASD, and SEDD contain uniformly formatted data built around a core set of more than 100 clinical and non-clinical variables for all patient encounters, regardless of payer (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, self-pay). The core variables include all-listed diagnoses and procedures, patient demographics, expected payment source, and total hospital charges. The files include safeguards to protect the privacy of individual patients, physicians, and hospitals. Complete descriptions of the HCUP databases are available on the HCUP User Support (HCUP-US) Website.

As they are released, databases can be purchased through the HCUP Central Distributor. Release notifications will be listed in the HCUP Online Product Release Calendar, located on the HCUP-US Website. For more information or to obtain HCUP databases (including the necessary Data Use Agreement forms and application kits), please visit the HCUP Central Distributor page on the HCUP-US Website, or contact the Central Distributor by e-mail at HCUPDistributor@ahrq.gov.