U.S. Hospital Inpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Discharge Records

Over 7 million discharge records are included in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, representing a 20% sample of U.S. community hospitals. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) maintains this family of databases, known as the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), with national data available from 1988 to 1998.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in discharge diagnoses and procedures across states using State Inpatient Databases (SID) fields.
• Estimate national hospitalization rates and costs using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) patient-level records.
• Study pediatric healthcare access and outcomes using the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) for patients 18 and younger.
• Compare ambulatory surgery volumes and types across markets using State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD) encounter data.
• Model hospital readmission risk based on patient age, diagnosis, and length of stay.
• Investigate market-area variations in surgical care using State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD) encounter data.

Strengths

• Nationwide Inpatient Sample contains roughly 7 million discharge records.
• Data covers 22 participating states in the State Inpatient Databases, representing over half of U.S. hospital discharges.
• Longitudinal coverage from 1988 to 1998 for national trend analysis.

Limitations

• Data is historical, with the latest referenced year being 1998, limiting contemporary analysis.
• Sample data from community hospitals may not represent discharges from federal or specialty institutions.
• Specific column definitions and data completeness for individual fields are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).

Collection Method

Compiled from state-specific hospital discharge databases and a national sample of community hospital discharges.

Time Range

1988 to 1998 for the Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

Freshness

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Geography

United States, with state-level data available for 22 participating states.