Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project - Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (HCUP-NEDS)

HCUP databases are derived from administrative data and contain encounter-level, clinical and nonclinical information including all-listed diagnoses and procedures, discharge status, patient demographics, and charges for all patients, regardless of payer. One such database, the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (HCUP-NEDS) captures information on emergency department (ED) visits that do not result in an admission as well as ED visits that result in an admission to the same hospital. HCUP-NEDS enables analyses of ED utilization patterns and supports public health professionals, administrators, policymakers, and clinicians in their decision making regarding this critical source of care. HCUP-NEDS is the largest all-payer ED database publicly available in the United States. The database is comprised of administrative claims data from roughly 30 million ED visits at 950 hospitals that approximate a 20 percent stratified sample of U.S. hospital-based Eds with records at the ED visit level. Weights are provided to calculate national and encounter-level estimates representing 144 million ED visits in 2016. From this sample frame, a stratified sample is derived with strata that include US Census region; urban/rural location; hospital teaching status, ownership, and size; and ED trauma-level. Weights are provided to enable the calculation of national estimates representative of 144 million ED visits in the United States.