Central Distributor SID: Description of Data Elements

ADATE - Admission date

Documentation Sections:

General Notes

Uniform Values

State Specific Notes

General Notes

Admission date (ADATE) is assigned a valid nonmissing date, with the following exceptions: If an admission date is supplied by the data source, but one or more of the components of the admission date (year, month, day) is Blank or a documented missing value, then ADATE = missing (.). - or - Nonnumeric or out of range (year NE 00-99, month NE 1-12, day NE 1-31), then ADATE = invalid (.A). If the admission day is inconsistent with the month (e.g., February 30), then ADATE = invalid (.A). If the data source does not provide the admission date, then beginning in the 1998 data, ADATE is not present on the HCUP files. In the 1988-1997 data, ADATE is retained on the HCUP files and is set to unavailable from source (.B). If the admission date is after the discharge date (ELOS03 beginning in the 1998 data and ED011 in the 1988-1997 data), then ADATE is set to inconsistent (.C). To ensure the confidentiality of patients on the HCUP Central Distributor files, full dates are not released. Beginning in the 1998 data, ADATE is replaced by admission month (AMONTH) and admission year (AYEAR). In databases before 1998, the day portion of the date stored in ADATE is overwritten with "01" during the creation of the Distributor files. The month and year portion of the date remains unchanged. HCUP data elements that are calculated from ADATE are computed before ADATE is masked.

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Uniform Values

Variable Description Value Value Description ADATE Admission date YYMMDD Date of admission . Missing .A Invalid .B Unavailable from source (coded in 1988-1997 data only) .C Inconsistent: beginning with 1998 data, ELOS03; in 1988-1997 data, ED011

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State Specific Notes

Colorado Beginning in 1997, Colorado provided the admission date (ADATE) with a four-digit year. In prior years, only a two-digit year was available.

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