Hospitalization in the United States, 2002

HCUP Fact Book No. 6

To help fulfill its mission of providing information on the U.S. health care system, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) develops and sponsors databases that include the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Through HCUP, AHRQ has taken a lead in developing databases, software tools, and statistical reports to inform policymakers, health system leaders, and researchers at the Federal, regional, and State levels.

Hospitalization in the United States, 2002, summarizes information from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), an all-payer hospital database maintained by AHRQ. This report updates an earlier Fact Book that described hospital care in 1997. AHRQ has attempted to maintain the general content of the earlier document to allow for easy comparison between 1997 and 2002 hospital care information.

Select to download the print version of the Fact Book: PDF File (4.3 MB). PDF Help.

By Chaya T. Merrill, M.P.H.; Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D.

Contents

Summary
Foreword
Contributors
Introduction
Overview of Hospitals
Gender and Age Characteristics
Common Diagnoses
Source of Admissions
Hospital Charges
Payers of Care
Disposition Status
Source of Data for This Report
Methods
References
For More Information
Appendix: 2002 Statistics on Stays in U.S. Hospitals, Principal Diagnosis

AHRQ Publication No. 05-0056
Current as of June 2005

Internet Citation:

Merrill CT, Elixhauser A. Hospitalization in the United States, 2002: HCUP Fact Book No. 6. AHRQ Publication No. 05-0056, June 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/factbk6/