The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announces the release of HCUP Facts and Figures: Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2008, available online on the HCUP-US Website. The new report uses the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database to present information about hospital care in 2008, as well as trends in care from 1993 to 2008.

HCUP Facts and Figures features an overview of numerous hospital-related topics, including general characteristics of U.S. hospitals and the patients treated; the most common diagnoses, conditions, and procedures associated with inpatient stays; the costs and charges associated with hospitalizations; and the payers for inpatient stays. A special section of this year’s report is an examination of trends in inpatient and emergency department care for mental health and substance abuse conditions. HCUP's 2007 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) database provided data on this topic. Funding for this section came from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

For more information, please visit the HCUP-US Website, or contact HCUP User Support at hcup@ahrq.gov.