HCUP-US NIS Overview

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html lang="en"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nisoverview.jsp","20140717055703","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1405576623"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>HCUP-US NIS Overview</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20140717055703cs_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/HCUP_US.css"> <meta name="keywords" content="hcup, healthcare cost and utilization project, health, healthcare, health statistics, data analysis, analysis, data collection, data processing, databases, research">  <script type="text/javascript"> var steering = false; var team = false; var partner = false; var nhqrdr = false; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20140717055703js_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/menu/c_config.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20140717055703js_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/menu/c_smartmenus.js"></script>  </head> <body> <div id="skipmenu"> <a href="#skip" class="skippy">Skip Navigation</a> <a name="top"></a> </div> <div id="hideShow"> <table summary="layout" width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td align="center" class="logoPanel" bgcolor="#006699"> <div id="logo"> <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/"><img src="/web/20140717055703im_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/images/HCUP_logo/hcuplogo_smaller_final.jpg" alt="Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project logo"></a> </div> </td> <td bgcolor="#66cccc" class="bannerPanel"><br> <div class="bannertitleinteriorpgs">Overview of the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS)</div> <div class="bannertext">The HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) is a set of longitudinal hospital inpatient databases included in the HCUP family. These databases are created by AHRQ through a Federal-State-Industry partnership.</div> </td> <td bgcolor="#66cccc" valign="middle" class="searchPanel"> <form method="get" action="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/search/Search.action"> <table cellpadding="0px" cellspacing="0px"> <tr> <td class="searchBox"> <input type="text" name="query"> </td> <td valign="middle" class="searchIcon"> <input type="image" src="/web/20140717055703im_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/images/search-icon2.png" placeholder="Search" alt="search" class="search-icon" title="Search" width="10" height="11"> </td> </tr> </table> </form> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="122" bgcolor="#66cccc"> </td> <td width="100%" colspan="2"><ul id="Menu1" class="MM"> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/"><br/>Home</a> <ul> <li><a class="NOLINK">What is HCUP?</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/overview.jsp">Overview of HCUP</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/overviewcourse.jsp">On-line HCUP Overview Course</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/faq.jsp">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Products</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">HCUP Databases</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/" target="_blank">HCUPnet</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tools_software.jsp">HCUP Tools & Software</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports.jsp">HCUP Reports</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Services</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Purchase HCUP Data</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/techassist.jsp">HCUP Technical Assistance</a></li> <li><a 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href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/NationwideDUA.jsp">Nationwide Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the NIS</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisdbdocumentation.jsp">NIS Database Documentation </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisrelatedreports.jsp">NIS Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">Kids' Inpatient Database (KID)</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/kidoverview.jsp">Overview of the KID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/partners.jsp?KID">HCUP Partners in the KID</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Obtaining the KID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/NationwideDUA.jsp">Nationwide Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the KID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/kid/kiddbdocumentation.jsp">KID Database Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/kid/kidrelatedreports.jsp">KID Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS)</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nedsoverview.jsp">Overview of the NEDS</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/partners.jsp?NEDS">HCUP Partners in the NEDS</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Obtaining the NEDS</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/NationwideDUA.jsp">Nationwide Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the NEDS</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/neds/nedsdbdocumentation.jsp">NEDS Database Documentation </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/neds/nedsrelatedreports.jsp">NEDS Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK"><strong>State-Specific HCUP Databases</strong></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">State Inpatient Databases (SID)</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sidoverview.jsp">Overview of the SID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/partners.jsp?SID">HCUP Partners in the SID</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Obtaining the SID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/StateDUA.jsp">State Database Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the SID</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/siddbdocumentation.jsp">SID Database Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sidrelatedreports.jsp">SID Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD)</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sasdoverview.jsp">Overview of the SASD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/partners.jsp?SASD">HCUP Partners in the SASD</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Obtaining the SASD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/StateDUA.jsp">State Database Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the SASD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sasddbdocumentation.jsp">SASD Database Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sasdrelatedreports.jsp">SASD Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp">State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD)</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/seddoverview.jsp">Overview of the SEDD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/partners.jsp?SEDD">HCUP Partners in the SEDD</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">Obtaining the SEDD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/StateDUA.jsp">SEDD Data Use Agreement</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Using the SEDD</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sedddbdocumentation.jsp">SEDD Database Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/seddrelatedreports.jsp">SEDD Related Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp">Publishing with HCUP Data</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tools_software.jsp">Tools &<br/>Software</a> <ul> <li><a class="NOLINK">Favorites</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/" target="_blank">HCUPNet</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/" target="_blank">AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs)</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/monahrq/monahrq.jsp">MONAHRQ</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Tools & Software</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/beta/icd_10_beta.jsp">ICD-10-CM/PCS Beta</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/ccs/ccs.jsp">Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) for ICD-9-CM</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/ccs_svcsproc/ccssvcproc.jsp">Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) for Services and Procedures</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/icd_10/ccs_icd_10.jsp">Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) for ICD-10</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/mhsa/mhsa.jsp">Clinical Classifications Software for Mental Health and Substance Abuse (CCS-MHSA)</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/chronic/chronic.jsp">Chronic Condition Indicator</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/comorbidity/comorbidity.jsp">Comorbidity Software</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/procedure/procedure.jsp">Procedure Classes</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/util_flags/utilflag.jsp">Utilization Flags</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Supplemental Files</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/costtocharge.jsp">Cost-to-Charge Ratio (CCR) Files</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/hms/hms.jsp">Hospital Market Structure (HMS) Files</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/revisit/revisit.jsp">HCUP Supplemental Variables for Revisit Analyses</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/ahalinkage/aha_linkage.jsp">American Hospital Association (AHA) Linkage Files</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisownership.jsp">NIS Hospital Ownership Files</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nistrends.jsp">Nationwide Inpatient Sample Trends (NIS-Trends) Files</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/kid/kidtrends.jsp">Kid’s Inpatient Database Trends (KID-Trends) File</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports.jsp"><br/>Reports</a> <ul> <li><a class="NOLINK"><strong>Favorites</strong></a></li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Statistical Briefs</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sbtopic.jsp">Topical list</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/statbriefs.jsp">Chronological list </a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/infographics.jsp">HCUP Infographics</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/projections/projections_rpts.jsp">HCUP Projections</a></li> <li><a class="NOLINK"><strong>Information About Using HCUP Data</strong></a></li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Methods Series</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/methods/methods_topic.jsp">Topical list</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/methods/methods.jsp">Chronological list </a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Nationwide Database Reports</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisrelatedreports.jsp">NIS </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/kid/kidrelatedreports.jsp">KID </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/neds/nedsrelatedreports.jsp">NEDS</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP State Database Reports</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sidrelatedreports.jsp">SID</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sasdrelatedreports.jsp">SASD</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/seddrelatedreports.jsp">SEDD</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK"><strong>Additional Topics</strong></a></li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Topical Reports</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/r_e_disparities.jsp">Race/Ethnicity </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/mhsa.jsp">Mental and Substance Use Disorders </a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Publications</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/pubsearch/pubsearch.jsp">Publication search </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/spotlights.jsp">Research Spotlights </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://www.ahrq.gov/research/publications/">AHRQ Publications</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a class="NOLINK">HCUP Archive</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports.jsp">Hospital Discharge Data report</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/highlights.jsp">HCUP Highlights </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/factbooks.jsp">HCUP Fact Books </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/natstats.jsp">HCUP National Statistics Archive </a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/factsandfigures.jsp">HCUP Facts and Figures</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/news.jsp">News &<br/>Events</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/news.jsp"><em> HCUP e-News</em></a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/news/enews_archives.jsp"><em>HCUP e-News</em> Archives</a></li> </ul> </li> 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href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicaldata/poaback.jsp">Background</a></li> <li><a class="NOLINK">Tools</a> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicaldata/tktt.jsp">Training Tools</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicaldata/tkds.jsp">Data Standards and Transmission Tools</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicaldata/tkfeedback.jsp">Feedback and Reporting Tools</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicaldata/pilot.jsp">Pilot and Planning Projects</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="3"><a name="skip"></a></td></tr> </table> </div> <br> <table align="center" width="65%" class="pagetext" style="border: 2px solid #66cccc;" bordercolor="#000000"> <tr> <td rowspan="4" align="center"><img src="/web/20140717055703im_/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/images/Picture3.png" width="63" height="63" alt="yellow star" style=" vertical-align:middle;"><strong>New! 2012 NIS Redesign. For more details, refer to the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/reports/NISRedesignFinalReport040914.pdf" target="_blank">NIS Redesign Report.</a></strong></td> </tr> </table> <table summary="layout" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="4"> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="left" valign="top"><div class="texttitle">National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample</div><br> <div class="pagetext">The National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS) is part of a family of databases and software tools developed for the <a href="overview.jsp">Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)</a>. The NIS is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient health care database in the United States, yielding national estimates of hospital inpatient stays. Unweighted, it contains data from more than 7 million hospital stays each year. Weighted, it estimates more than 36 million hospitalizations nationally. </div> </td></tr> </table> <br> <table align="center" class="pagetext" width="45%" style="border: 1px solid # 000;" bordercolor="#000000"> <tr> <td>Beginning in 2012, the NIS was redesigned. It was formerly a <strong>sample of hospitals</strong>, and all discharges from those hospitals were retained. <br><br> The new NIS starting with 2012 data is a <strong>sample of discharges</strong> from all hospitals participating in HCUP. </td> </tr> </table> <br> <table summary="layout" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td width="100%" align="left" valign="top"><div class="pagetext"> Developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership sponsored by the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://www.ahrq.gov/" target="_blank">Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)</a>, HCUP data inform decisionmaking at the national, State, and community levels. <br><br> This page provides an overview of the NIS. For more details, see <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisdbdocumentation.jsp">NIS Database Documentation</a> and the <em>Introduction to the NIS, 2012</em>  (<a href="db/nation/nis/NISIntroduction2012.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> file, 624 KB). <br><br> Contents:<a name="return"></a> <ul> <li><a href="#about">About the NIS</a></li> <li><a href="#data">NIS Data Elements</a></li> <li><a href="#research">NIS Areas of Research and HCUP Publications</a></li> <li><a href="#multi">The NIS and Multi-Year or Trend Analyses</a></li> <li><a href="#purchase">Purchase the NIS</a></li> <li><a href="#hardware">NIS Hardware and Software Requirements</a></li> </ul> <br> </div> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="about">About the NIS</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> Beginning with the 2012 data year, HCUP's NIS is a 20 percent <strong><em>sample of discharges</em></strong> from <strong><em>all community hospitals</em></strong> participating in HCUP, excluding rehabilitation and long-term acute care hospitals. The NIS covers all patients, including individuals covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance, as well as those who are uninsured. The NIS is sampled from the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sidoverview.jsp">State Inpatient Databases (SID</a>), all inpatient data that are currently contributed to HCUP. <br> <br> Researchers and policymakers use the NIS to make national estimates of health care utilization, access, charges, quality, and outcomes. NIS data are available from 1988 through 2012, which allows analysis of trends over time. The number of States in the NIS has grown from 8 in the first year to 44 at present. <br><br> Beginning with 2012 data, the NIS was redesigned to improve national estimates. To highlight the design change, beginning with 2012 data, AHRQ renamed the NIS from the "<strong><em>Nationwide</em></strong> Inpatient Sample" to the "<strong><em>National</em></strong> Inpatient Sample." The redesign incorporates three major types of changes: <br><br> <ul> <li>Revisions to the sample design—the NIS is now a sample of discharge records from all HCUP-participating hospitals, rather than a sample of hospitals from which all discharges were retained.</li> <li>Revisions to how hospitals are defined—the NIS now uses the definitions of hospitals and discharges supplied by the statewide data organizations that contribute to HCUP, rather than the definitions used by the AHA Annual Survey.</li> <li>Revisions to enhance confidentiality—the NIS now eliminates State and hospital identifiers and other data elements that are not uniformly available across States. </li> </ul> The new sampling strategy is expected to result in more precise estimates than the previous NIS design by reducing sampling error. For many estimates, confidence intervals under the new design are about half the length of confidence intervals under the previous design. <br><br> Key features of the most recent NIS (2012) include: <br><br> <ul> <li>The NIS is drawn from all States participating in HCUP, representing more than 95 percent of the U.S. population.</li> <li>The NIS approximates a 20-percent <strong><em></em></strong>stratified sample of discharges</em></strong> from U.S. community hospitals, excluding rehabilitation and long-term acute care hospitals.</li> <li>The self-weighting design of the new NIS reduces the margin of error for estimates and delivers more stable and precise estimates than previous versions of the NIS.</li> <li>The NIS protects patient confidentiality because State and hospital identifiers are no longer provided.</li> <li>The new NIS retains a large sample size, which enables analyses of rare conditions, uncommon treatments, and special patient populations.</li> </ul> The NIS was redesigned to improve national estimates. Changes to the NIS may impact some types of analyses. For example, the elimination of hospital identifiers means that hospital linkages can no longer be done with the NIS and the sampling of discharges means that analyses relying on a census of discharges from sampled hospitals can no longer be performed. Because inpatient data are available for many individual States through the HCUP Central Distributor, state inpatient data can be used for many analyses no longer possible with the NIS. <br><br> For a detailed description of the 2012 NIS redesign, please see the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/reports/NISRedesignFinalReport040914.pdf" target="_blank">NIS Redesign Report</a>. <br><br> For more details on the 2012 NIS, see the <em>Introduction to the NIS, 2012</em> (<a href="db/nation/nis/NISIntroduction2012.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> file, 624 KB). <br><br> Information on previous years of the NIS may be found in the <em>Introduction to the NIS, 2011</em> (<a href="db/nation/nis/NIS_Introduction_2011.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> file, 1.3 MB; <a href="db/nation/nis/NIS_Introduction_2011.jsp">HTML</a>). </div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="left" class="pagetext"><a href="#return">Return to Contents</a></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="data">NIS Data Elements</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> The NIS contains clinical and resource-use information that is included in a typical discharge abstract, with safeguards to protect the privacy of individual patients, physicians, and hospitals (as required by data sources). It contains clinical and nonclinical data elements for each hospital stay, including: <ul> <li>Primary and secondary diagnoses and procedures</li> <li>Patient demographic characteristics (e.g., sex, age, race, median household income for ZIP Code)</li> <li>Hospital characteristics (e.g., ownership)</li> <li>Expected payment source</li> <li>Total charges</li> <li>Discharge status</li> <li>Length of stay</li> <li>Severity and comorbidity measures</li> </ul> </div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="left" class="pagetext"><a href="#return">Return to Contents</a></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="research">NIS Areas of Research and HCUP Publications</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> As a uniform, multi-State database, the NIS promotes comparative studies of health care services and supports health care policy research on a variety of topics, including: <ul> <li>Utilization of health services by special populations</li> <li>Hospital stays for rare conditions</li> <li>Variations in medical practice</li> <li>Health care cost inflation</li> <li>Regional and national analyses</li> <li>Quality of care and patient safety</li> <li>Impact of health policy changes</li> <li>Access to care</li> </ul> The NIS is used in a variety of publications: <br><br> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/statbriefs.jsp">HCUP Statistical Briefs</a> highlight a variety of health topics.</li> <li>Use the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/pubsearch/pubsearch.jsp">HCUP Publications Search Tool</a> to find publications using the NIS.</li> <li>Review featured publications on the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/spotlights.jsp">HCUP Research Spotlights</a> page.</li> <li>Read publications by the winners of the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/awards.jsp">HCUP Outstanding Article of the Year Awards</a>.</li> </ul> <a href="#return">Return to Contents</a> </div></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="multi">The NIS and Multi-Year or Trends Analyses</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> Spanning more than 20 years of data, the NIS is ideal for longitudinal analyses. However, the database has undergone changes over time, including the sampling and weighting strategy used. Users of the 2012 NIS should expect a one-time decrease to historical trends for discharge counts of about 4 percent. Users should also expect smaller one-time disruptions to historical trends for rates and means estimated from the NIS, beginning with data year 2012. <br><br> In order to facilitate analysis of trends using multiple years of NIS data, AHRQ developed new discharge trend weights for the 1993-2011 NIS. These weights were calculated in the same way as the weights for the redesigned 2012 NIS, and are designed to be used instead of the original NIS discharge weights for trends analysis. For trends analysis using NIS data 2011 and earlier, revised weights should be used to make estimates comparable to the new design beginning with 2012 data. The trend weights are available for download as ASCII files along with SAS, Stata, and SPSS load programs from the HCUP-US Website at <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/trendwghts.jsp">https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/trendwghts.jsp</a>. <br><br> These new discharge trend weights replace the earlier NIS trend weights that were developed for the 1988-1997 NIS following the 1998 NIS redesign. The report <em><a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/methods/2006_05_NISTrendsReport_1988-2004.pdf" target="_blank">Using the HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample to Estimate Trends</a></em><sup>1</sup>, available on the HCUP-US Website under Methods Series (<a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/methods/methods.jsp">http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/methods/methods.jsp</a>), includes recommendations for trends analysis. </div> </td></tr> <tr><td align="left" class="pagetext"><a href="#return">Return to Contents</a></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="purchase">Purchase the NIS</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> NIS releases for data years 1988 through 2011 are available for purchase through the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp">HCUP Central Distributor</a>. <br><br> Prior to purchasing HCUP data, all individuals are required to take the online <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp">HCUP Data Use Agreement Training Course</a>, and users of the NIS must read and sign the Data Use Agreement for Nationwide Databases (<a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/HCUP_Nationwide_DUA_051614.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> file, 55 KB; <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/NationwideDUA.jsp">HTML</a>). <br><br> Instructions for purchasing the NIS are available in the Nationwide <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/NISApp_Final.pdf" target="_blank">(National) Inpatient Sample (NIS) Application Kit</a> (PDF file, 112 KB). <br><br> Questions about purchasing databases can be directed to the HCUP Central Distributor: <p style="margin-left: 35px;"> Email: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/mailto:HCUPDistributor@AHRQ.gov">HCUPDistributor@AHRQ.gov</a> <br> Telephone: (866) 556-4287 (toll free) <br> Fax: (866) 792-5313 (toll free) </p> <a href="#return">Return to Contents</a></div></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> <div class="texttitle"><a name="hardware">NIS Hardware and Software Requirements</a></div><div class="pagetext"> <br> The NIS is distributed as fixed-width ASCII formatted data files compressed with SecureZIP® from PKWARE. To load and analyze NIS data on a computer, you will need the following: <ul> <li>A DVD drive</li> <li>A hard drive with 15 gigabytes of space available</li> <li>A third-party zip utility such as ZIP Reader, 7-Zip, or WinZip®</li> <li>SAS®, SPSS®, Stata® or similar analysis software</li> </ul> The data set includes weights for producing national and regional estimates. NIS documentation and tools, including programs for loading the ASCII file into SAS, SPSS, or Stata, are also available on the <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/nation/nis/nisdbdocumentation.jsp">NIS Database Documentation</a> page. <br><br> <a href="#return">Return to Contents</a></div></td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td><div class="pagetext"><sup>1</sup> As of June, 2014, this report had not yet been updated for the new 2012 NIS design. However, the methods described in the report are still valid.</div></td></tr> </table> <hr width="75%" align="center" class="hrruleblue"> <table width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" class="citationtext"> Internet Citation: HCUP Databases. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). June 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nisoverview.jsp. </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" class="citationtext"> <a href="/web/20140717055703/http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/viewing_prntg.jsp">Are you having problems viewing or printing pages on this Website?</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" class="citationtext"> If you have comments, suggestions, and/or questions, please contact <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/mailto:hcup@ahrq.gov">hcup@ahrq.gov.</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" class="citationtext"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://www.ahrq.gov/policy/electronic/privacy/index.html" target="_blank">Privacy Notice</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055703/http://www.hhs.gov/plugins.html" target="_blank">Viewers & Players</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" class="citationtext">Last modified 6/30/14</td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>

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