Hospital Patient Discharge (UB) Data:
Procedures for Release of Data

Introduction

In 1976, New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services (Department) was among the first states to collect utilization data on hospital inpatients. Utilization data includes information on admission and discharge dates, the hospital and the services rendered, charges, and insurers. Since 1981, inpatient data has been collected through Uniform Bill-Patient Summaries (UB). Starting in 2004, the Department also collects outpatient data from hospital emergency departments (ED), on UB forms, in accordance with New Jersey laws and Department regulations.

Until 1992, UB data and hospital cost data produced Diagnosis Related Group rates (DRGs) for New Jersey hospitals. The repeal of DRGs with the Health Care Reform Act (Chapter 160, enacted on November 30, 1992) ended the DRG payments to hospitals. Since then, UB data supports Department and State public policy research, as well as the Department’s public health surveillance of asthma, diabetes, complications of pregnancy, and pediatric hospitalizations that could have been averted by timely outpatient care.  

While the Department has always provided privacy-protected UB data to the public for purchase, the Department is not obligated to sort, filter, or analyze the data provided in response to these requests.

Data Safeguards

The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) assures the privacy and security of individuals’ identifiable health information. Therefore, the Department deletes the following confidential data from the UB files provided to the public:

• Admission and discharge dates
• Patient control and medical record numbers (assigned by hospitals)
• Date of birth
• Patient name
• Patient address
• Insurance and other personal identification numbers
• Attending and other physician codes
• Procedure Dates

Available Data

The Dept. of Health and Senior Services, Division of Health Care Quality Assessment provides hospital discharge data for the current and ten prior years.   

1. Statewide summary reports are available through the web. (See link to UB Data Documentation below.) These reports summarize UB data case counts, charges, length of stay and averages by payer and by Diagnosis Related Group using the most current and complete, calendar-year UB data. Statewide reports are available by year through the website, Inpatient Acute Care Hospital Statistics.
    
   
2. Non-Confidential Patient-level data files are available on request. Requests for patient-level data files require the following:
    
1. A completed, signed Agreement for Release of UB data submitted to:

   Office of Health Care Quality Assessment
   240 W. State Street
   11th Floor
   P. O. Box, 360
   Trenton, NJ 08625-0360
   (Address effective August 18, 2008)
   

   The letter of interest must specify the calendar year(s) of data requested along with your reason for making the request, including what you will produce with this information and who the end users are.

2. Payment process: A check must accompany the Data Release Agreement and the letter of interest.  The check should equal $5 times the number of files requested. It should be made payable to “TREASURER, STATE OF NEW JERSEY”. The check should be mailed with the Agreement for Release and the letter of interest, described in step 1 above.  All data will be provided on CD or similar media in ASCII text format.
    
   
3. Confidential data files: Confidential data, including individually-identifiable health information that is protected by HIPAA, may be available to research organizations that adhere to Institutional Review Board procedures. Click on the Department's Institutional Review Board for instructions on requesting confidential UB data from the Office of Health Care Quality Assessment.
   
   If you have any questions, please call the Office of Health Care Quality and Assessment, 609-984-7334, (phone effective August 18, 2008).

Please be advised that the New Jersey discharge extract files are derived from hospital uniform billing information. The UB is used to electronically submit claims for health care provided in an institutional setting to payers and to exchange claim information between payers. Variables contained in these files that are not required for claim processing should be used with caution. This includes, but is not limited to, patient race, Hispanic ethnicity, marital status, primary language spoken and residence code. Users should verify conclusions with others data sources.

The Non-Confidential New Jersey hospital discharge data are also available through the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), a joint federal and state partnership. Users may obtain different state’s discharge data in a standard format. Please see http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov .              

Data Documentation:

To View and Download the UB Patient Discharge Data Variables and Specifications, prior to 2008 access the following documentation.

To View and Download the UB Patient Discharge Data Variables and Specifications for 2008 and forward, access the following documentation.