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NORC at the University Chicago

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

A health care worker pushes a woman sitting in a wheelchair through a hospital
The nation’s most comprehensive source of hospital care data
  • Client
    Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  • Dates
    December 2022 – Present

Problem

About the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

HCUP is a Federal-State-Industry partnership, sponsored by AHRQ and established to develop and maintain a family of longitudinal healthcare databases, related software tools, products, and technical support services. The HCUP databases integrate state-level data collected by HCUP Partners into a national resource of hospital inpatient, emergency department, and ambulatory surgery and services data. HCUP also produces a number of clinical classification research tools to assist with the use of ICD-coded administrative data.

HCUP is a unique data source that provides record-level billing data (approximately 35 million inpatient records and 125 million emergency department visits annually). The information provided in HCUP data includes patient demographics, ICD-coded diagnoses and procedures, where the patient was admitted from and discharged to, expected payer, hospital charges which can be converted to costs, and resource utilization.

HCUP databases are used to support health services research and policy analyses on issues such as utilization and access to care, costs, quality of care, medical practice patterns, and patient outcomes at the national, state, and local market levels. The primary focus of HCUP has been to provide the nation with high quality data and information to make evidence-based decisions to improve healthcare quality, access, coverage, and cost.

Solution

NORC’s Role: Managing & Modernizing HCUP

NORC and several key subcontractors* develop and analyze HCUP databases and tools. NORC is helping to modernize HCUP, improve data quality, and expand access and data availability. Throughout the course of the project, NORC: 

  1. Maintains and enhances HCUP databases and tools available to the public and research community
  2. Facilitates and enhances timely data releases and analytic products
  3. Provides responsive technical assistance to HCUP Partners who provide data
  4. Identifies opportunities for innovation.

By maintaining and strengthening the foundation, NORC assists AHRQ in broadening the overall impact of HCUP data and products. As of January 2025, there are 49 HCUP Partners representing 48 states and the District of Columbia.

*Key subcontractors include General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), Mathematica, ML Barrett, Inc., University of California, Davis (UC Davis), and the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO).

Result

Looking Forward

HCUP is essential for measuring healthcare quality and cost and tracking healthcare reform progress and impact. NORC's work will bring high-quality, evidence-based data products to a wider range of researchers, healthcare stakeholders, and policymakers.  

Project Leads

"AHRQ’s HCUP is committed to sharing high quality data on hospital encounters in the US for practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers through its Federal-State-Industry partnership. This work is aligned with our mission at NORC to provide objective, rigorously managed data to understand current practices and outcomes, improve access to care, and promote ever-improving health outcomes for all Americans."

David Cotton

Project Director & Vice President

"AHRQ’s HCUP is committed to sharing high quality data on hospital encounters in the US for practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers through its Federal-State-Industry partnership. This work is aligned with our mission at NORC to provide objective, rigorously managed data to understand current practices and outcomes, improve access to care, and promote ever-improving health outcomes for all Americans."

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