At a glance
- Learn what restricted data are available from the National Hospital Care Survey.
- Researchers interested in using these data must obtain approval through the NCHS Research Data Center.
Overview
The National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) is designed to provide accurate and reliable healthcare statistics for hospital-based settings. These statistics answer key questions of interest to health care and public health professionals, researchers, and health care policymakers.
Data
The survey describes national patterns of healthcare delivery in hospital-based settings, including inpatient, emergency (EDs), and outpatient departments (OPDs). Data elements collected include—
- Demographics
- Diagnoses
- Procedures
- Laboratory tests
- Medications
NHCS collects patient-level identifiers. This allows a patient’s episodes of care to be linked between—
- Hospital inpatient and outpatient settings
- Outside databases (e.g., National Death Index)
These linkages provide a more complete picture of patient care.
Weighted and unweighted datasets
The 2020 weighted inpatient and emergency department NHCS datasets are accessible through the National Center for Health Statistics Research Data Center (RDC). In addition, the 2013–2016 and 2019–2021 unweighted inpatient and ambulatory NHCS datasets are accessible through the NCHS RDC.
The 2021 weighted NHCS data will be available soon. Preliminary 2020-2024 NHCS data are available in the NCHS RDC. These data are also used in the dashboard reporting on COVID-19 data and in dashboards reporting drug use-associated hospital encounters from selected hospitals.
Data dictionaries and documentation
Visit the NHCS website to find data dictionaries and documentation for restricted survey data and linked survey data.