Source Files

The HCUP Massachusetts inpatient files were constructed from confidential data files received from the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).

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

Massachusetts supplied discharge abstract data for inpatient stays from general acute care hospitals in Massachusetts.

A comparison of the number of hospitals included in the SID and the number of hospitals reported in the AHA Annual Survey is available starting in data year 2010.

Hospitals do not always report data for a full calendar year. Some hospitals open or close during the year; other hospitals have technical problems that prevent them from reporting data for all months in a year.

Inclusion of Stays in Special Units

The documentation provided by Massachusetts indicates that inclusion of discharges from special units within the hospital (e.g., psychiatric, rehabilitation, long-term care) varies by hospital. However, these records cannot be identified.

Exclusion of Records During HCUP Data Processing

Records with a discharge disposition of "still a patient" and "admitted as an inpatient" were excluded from the HCUP Massachusetts inpatient data.