The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announces the initial release of data for the 2003 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.

This most recent database release includes newly available data added to the State Inpatient Databases (SID), State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD), and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD). 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.

The State Inpatient Databases contain the universe of inpatient discharge abstracts for participating states. Beginning in April 2005, SID data from the 2003 data year are available for Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, and West Virginia. These new additions complement the numerous SID files that are already available for the years 1994-2002.

The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases feature ambulatory surgery encounter abstracts from hospital-affiliated, and in some cases, freestanding, ambulatory surgery sites within participating states. This most recent release adds 2003 data files for Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, and Nebraska, as well as the 2002 data for Wisconsin, to the existing collection of SASD files already available for the years 1997-2002.

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 add Nebraska’s 2003 data and Utah’s 2000-2002 data to the existing collection of SEDD files that are already available for the years 1999-2002.

Like 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, total charges, and hospital identifiers, along with safeguards to protect the privacy of individual patients, physicians, and hospitals. Complete descriptions of the SID, SASD, SEDD, and other HCUP databases are available on the HCUP User Support (HCUP-US) Website (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp).

To obtain any SID, SASD, and/or SEDD files, including the necessary Data Use Agreement forms and application kits, please contact the HCUP Central Distributor through the link provided or by e-mail at HCUPDistributor@ahrq.gov.. The HCUP Central Distributor can also be reached toll-free at (866) 792-5315.