National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2008

The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NHAMCS) provide data from samples of patient records selected from emergency departments (EDs) and outpatient departments (OPDs) of a national sample of hospitals. The resulting national estimates describe the use of hospital ambulatory medical care services in the United States. For the 2008 survey, data were colected from 209 OPDs and 431 EDs. Among the variables included are age, race, and sex of the patient, reason for the visit physician's diagnoses, cause of injury, surgical procedures (OPD's only), medication therapy, and expected source of payment. The 2008 survey remains unchanged from the previous year.