Health Care Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

Users can use the online interactive tool (HCUP-net) to gather national, state and all-payer patient health care data or users can purchase the data from the HCUP databases. Background HCUP is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. It is a collection of databases that provide information on patient health care data, including information typically found on a hospital discharge form. Topics include: cost of care, access to care, and treatment outcomes. The HCUP databases include: The National Inpatient Sample, The Kids' Inpatient Database, The State Ambulatory Surgery Database, and The State Emergency Department Databases. Many of these are available for purchase. User Functionality Users can purchase any of the aforementioned databases from the HCUP Central Administrator. Directions and contact information are readily available from the HCUP website. Users can also access the HCUP interactive tool, HCUP-net. Please click the appropriate link in the keywords to access this tool. Data Notes HCUP began collecting health care data in 1988. Specific information about a particular database can be found on the website.