SPARCS: Patient Safety Indicators by New York Hospital, 2009 Onward

Hospital discharge data from New York State's SPARCS system provides counts, observed, expected, and risk-adjusted rates for Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The dataset includes measures for potential in-hospital complications and adverse events following surgeries, procedures, and childbirth, calculated from inpatient data beginning in 2009. Data is presented by hospital and county, with rates and confidence intervals.

Use Cases

• Benchmark hospital performance using PSI Value, Compare to State, and Composite Measure across different Hospital Regions.
• Analyze temporal trends in patient safety by examining PSI Code, Year, and risk-adjusted rates with Upper 95CI and Lower 95CI.
• Compare geographic disparities in care quality by aggregating data by Hospital County and Hospital Region.
• Validate statistical models for healthcare outcomes using observed and expected rates provided for each PSI Code and Facility ID.

Strengths

• Data is calculated using the standardized AHRQ PSI methodology, ensuring comparability.
• Includes 95% confidence intervals (Upper 95CI, Lower 95CI) for risk-adjusted rates, supporting statistical rigor.
• Temporal coverage is long-term, with data beginning in 2009 and last updated in August 2025.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and completeness require manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

health.data.ny.gov, derived from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS).

Collection Method

PSI measures were calculated from SPARCS inpatient data using AHRQ methodology and software.

Time Range

Beginning 2009

Freshness

Last updated 2025-08-13 13:46:58

Geography

New York State, United States (by Hospital County and Hospital Region).