How can your hospital participate in NHCS?

Welcome to NHCS!

Have you been selected to participate in the National Hospital Care Survey? You have a great opportunity to take part in an important national health care utilization survey. You can find more information below and in links in the navigation bar to the left. NHCS participation is voluntary. We look forward to partnering with your hospital on this important public health study!

Steps to Participate in NHCS

Electronic Data Component

We are asking all participating hospitals to:

1. Participate in a one-time eligibility interview to determine your hospital’s eligibility and the eligibility of your hospital’s emergency department (ED) and/or outpatient departments (OPDs).
2. Complete an Annual Hospital Interview on hospital characteristics, including total admissions, total births, total number of beds, total ED visits, and total OPD visits.
3. Submit electronic health records (EHR) or Uniform Bill (UB)-04 administrative claims data for all inpatient discharges and ED and OPD visits. We will also accept an electronic file in the same format submitted to the state. For more information, see the Electronic Health Record Fact Sheet, Claims Data Fact Sheet, or NHCS Variable List.

Abstraction Component

For hospitals sending UB-04 claims, a state file, or hospitals not providing all the required EHR data elements, we ask that you:

4. Permit our staff to visit your hospital to abstract additional clinical information from a sample of your ambulatory visits. For 2016, there are no plans for abstraction. Your hospital might be asked to participate in abstraction in subsequent years but not necessarily on an annual basis.

Each of these activities will occur on separate time tables. The submission of your electronic data will be continuous while the completion of questionnaires and the abstraction of medical records will be less frequent.

Ready to submit your electronic data?

Participating hospitals send data via the Westat Secure Transfer System. See below for detailed instructions on how to use the WSTS:

• Quick Reference Guide for the WSTS [PDF - 262 KB]
• Detailed Instructions for the WSTS [PDF - 955 KB]
• Data Security Plan [ PDF - 45 KB]
• File Transfer Specifications for 837/UB-04 Claims data [PDF - 47 KB]

Additional information about NHCS can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions webpage.