HCUPnet
HCUPnet is AHRQ's online query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. HCUPnet provides State leaders with fast and easy access to health statistics on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.
What Does This Tool Do?
State leaders can use this tool to monitor costs and quality of hospital care in their State. The tool will help State leaders:
- Identify, track, analyze, and compare statistics on hospital care across the United States and by region.
- Assess utilization, access, charges, quality, and outcomes of hospital care provided in their State.
- Pinpoint priority areas for improvement.
What Can This Tool Tell States About Their Performance?
HCUPnet is an online query system that gives users access to the largest set
of publicly available, all-payer health care databases. By conducting queries
through this online tool, users can generate tables and graphs on national
and regional statistics and plot trends for community hospitals in the United States.
Who Should Use This Tool?
Public health and other State agency information analysts, health care analysts, health insurance analysts, health policy analysts, health service researchers, and market analysts.
How Does This Tool Work?
HCUPnet provides users with access to data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), the State Inpatient Databases (SID),* and the State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD). HCUPnet runs queries from aggregate statistics tables to speed up data transfer and protect individual records. While expediting access, this does limit the number of possible queries that can be addressed. If a query is not possible through HCUPnet, the tool will not allow the selection of the parameters. To get these more detailed analyses or additional information, users should contact hcup@ahrq.gov.
* Available for participating States. Please check www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sidoverview.jsp.
What Do States Have To Say?
"We used AHRQ's HCUPnet application to compile hospital care cost and access information as part of a large policy report to senior public and private healthcare decision makers in the state. Instead of using only our own state's data, for this report we were able to show the big picture of how Utah compares with other neighbor states and the rest of the nation. It served as a warning of cost trends, and also helped these policy leaders prepare for and understand Utah's place in national quality rankings." Wu Xu, Ph.D., Director, Office of Public Health Informatics, Utah Department of Health.
How Can I Obtain The Tool?
The tool is available online at: http://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/.
Current as of May 2009
Internet Citation:
HCUPnet. December 2008. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/kt/hcupnet/hcupsumm.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 