Source Files

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA): an Association of Hospitals and Health Systems provides HCUP with an outpatient file that includes emergency department (ED) visit, ambulatory surgery (AS), and other outpatient service records. GHA uses a patient type indicator to distinguish between these types of records:

• Ambulatory surgery (patient type A)
• Ambulatory surgery that originated in the ED (patient type AE)
• Emergency department (patient type E)
• Other outpatient records (patient type O)

Records for patients treated in the ED, and then treated and released from observation care are also included in the ED data.

Beginning with 2003 ED data, GHA removes from the data any diagnosis codes indicating medical misadventures and adverse reactions.

Selection of Records for Inclusion in the SEDD

All records identified by GHA as ED are included in the SEDD (HCUP data element STATE_ED=1 based on patient type "E"). Additionally, any records identified by GHA as AS that come in through the ED are also included in the SEDD (HCUP data element STATE_ED=1 based on patient type "AE"). These same records (patient type "AE") are also included in the SASD and will have the same value for the HCUP data element KEY. AS records that came in through the ED can also be identified by the data element OPService.

Additionally, any other records with evidence of ED services that are flagged by the variable HCUP_ED (i.e., HCUP_ED>0) during HCUP processing are included in the SEDD.

Types of Facilities Included in the Files Provided to HCUP by the Partner

GHA collects ED data from member hospital-owned EDs in the State.

A comparison of the number of hospitals included in the SEDD and the number of hospitals reported in the AHA Annual Survey is available starting in data year 2014.

Hospital-owned EDs do not always report data for a full calendar year. Some open or close during the year; others have technical problems that prevent them from reporting data for all months in a year.

Exclusion of Records During HCUP Data Processing During HCUP Data Processing

Beginning with 2016 data, records with a discharge disposition of "still a patient" are retained in the HCUP SEDD. Prior to 2016 data, these records were excluded. Beginning in 2010, records with a designation of "admitted as an inpatient" are retained in the SEDD, even though this rarely occurs. Prior to 2010, records with a designation of "admitted as an inpatient" were excluded from the files.