Overview
Emergency Department Database
Inpatient Discharge Database
Outpatient Observation Database

 

Overview

The Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (Division) collects patient-level data for Massachusetts acute care hospital inpatients, observation patients, and emergency room patients to support the Division's analyses of such issues as preventable hospitalizations, hospital market analysis, alternative care settings, the patient care continuum, and comparative costs and outcomes in acute care hospitals.

The Division collects data related to inpatient hospital discharges, outpatient observation stays, and emergency department visits pursuant to regulation 114.1 CMR 17.00: Requirement for the Submission of Hospital Case Mix and Charge Data. Hospitals report their data to the Division on a quarterly basis for the fiscal year beginning on October 1. The Division prepares the annual database for each of the three data types available to the public. Data submissions are edited, summarized, and returned to the submitting hospital to verify the accuracy of the records.

All three clinical databases are available to the public. It is highly recommended that all applicants review regulation 114.5 CMR 2.00: Disclosure of Hospital Case Mix and Charge Data prior to submitting a database request. This regulation established policies and procedures for review of applications for hospital clinical data. As a part of each application request, applicants must guarantee that patient privacy will be protected and are required to demonstrate that the purpose of the request is in the public interest including financial studies, surveillance of hospitals, health planning and resource allocation studies, epidemiological studies, and health care research.

To apply for case mix database information, please complete the DHCFP Case Mix Datasets Request Application.

 

Emergency Department Database

The Outpatient Emergency Department Database (ED) contains data elements that are similar to those contained in the inpatient and observation stay databases, with some additions relevant to the ED setting. Data elements include patient demographics, clinical characteristics, services provided, charges, and hospitals and practitioner information, as well as mode of transport.

ED Documentation Manuals

The following documentation manuals contain two sections: General Documentation and Technical Documentation. The General Documentation section includes background on the development of the ED database and is intended to provide users with an understanding of the data quality issues connected with the data elements they may decide to examine.

The section also contains hospital-reported discrepancies received in response to the data verification process, and supplementary information, including a table of data field names and descriptions, a list of Type A and Type B errors, and a list of hospitals within the database. The Technical Documentation section includes information on the fields calculated by the Division and a data file summary section describing the data that is contained in the file.

 

ED Volume by Hospital

The following tables provide information on visit volume for all EDs regardless of discharge disposition across the state of Massachusetts. Outpatient visit totals were obtained through the Outpatient ED Database, while the ED visits that resulted in an inpatient admission or observation stay were identified through the Hospital Case Mix Database and Outpatient Observation Database, respectively. In both databases, ED flags were used to mark visits originating in the ED. The tables can be used to identify hospitals with high ED volume, as well as to indicate differences in disposition pattern.

Inpatient Discharge Database

The Division collects case mix and charge data for all inpatients discharged from Massachusetts acute care hospitals. The Hospital Inpatient Discharge Database (HIDD) contains comprehensive patient-level information including socio-demographics, clinic data, and charge data. It is used to establish reasonable and adequate rates, to enable hospitals to be grouped for comparing costs, to assist in the formulation of health care delivery and financing policy, and to assist in the provision and purchase of health care services.

HIDD Documentation Manuals

This following documentation manuals consist of two sections: General Documentation and Technical Documentation. The General Documentation section includes background on its development and the DRG Groupers, and is intended to provide users with an understanding of the data quality issues connected with the data elements they may decide to examine. This document contains hospital-reported discrepancies received in response to the data verification process. It also includes supplements listing the hospitals within the database, information on mergers, name changes, closures, conversion, and non-acute care hospitals, and alphabetical and numerical payer source lists. The Technical Documentation includes information on the fields calculated by the Division and a data file summary section describing the hospital data that is contained in the file. The data file section contains the Discharge File Table (formerly the record layout), Revenue File Table, and Data Code Tables. Also included are revenue code mappings.

 

Outpatient Observation Database

The Division also collects case mix and charge data for all outpatient observation visits to Massachusetts acute care hospitals. The Outpatient Hospital Observation Discharge Database (OOA) contains comprehensive patient-level information, including socio-demographics, clinic data, and charge data. Data users include hospitals, strategic planners, policy makers, researchers, and program evaluators.

OOA Documentation Manuals

This documentation manual consists of two sections: General Documentation and Technical Documentation. The General Documentation section includes background on the development of the database and is intended to provide users with an understanding of the data quality issues connected with the data elements they may decide to examine. This section also contains hospital reported discrepancies received in response to the data verification process, and supplementary information, including a table of data field names and descriptions, a list of Type A and Type B errors, and a list of hospitals within the database. The Technical Documentation Section includes information on the fields calculated by the Division and a data file summary section describing the data that is contained in the file.