The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is pleased to announce the release of State databases for the 2010 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 2010 database releases include the State Inpatient Databases (SID), State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD), and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) of selected states:

• The State Inpatient Databases contain the universe of inpatient discharge abstracts for participating states. These databases complement the numerous SID files that are already available for the years 1994-2009.
• The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases feature ambulatory surgery encounter abstracts from hospital-affiliated, and in some cases, freestanding, ambulatory surgery sites within participating states. These databases add to the existing collection of SASD files available for years 1997-2009.
• The State Emergency Department Databases contain discharge information on all emergency department visits that do not result in a hospital admission. These databases complement the SEDD files that are already available for the years 1999-2009.

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. 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.

Released on a rolling basis, the SID/SASD/SEDD Application Kit and HCUP Database and Product Release Calendar provide the latest listing of available databases. Once available, databases can be purchased through the HCUP Central Distributor.

The 2010 State Databases can be purchased through the HCUP Central Distributor. More information about the State Databases can be found on the HCUP-US Website.