The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD) are one in a family of databases and software tools developed as part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). The SASD contain abstracts from ambulatory surgery encounters in participating States, including hospital-affiliated ambulatory surgery sites, and for some States free-standing surgery centers as well. Like other HCUP databases, the SASD encode data in a uniform format that allows for analyses across and between States. Core data elements in the SASD include patient demographics, insurance and cost information, diagnoses, procedures, and discharge status. The SASD can be linked to the American Hospital Association Annual Survey File and the Area Resource File, except in those States that do not allow the release of hospital identifiers (see elsewhere in the SGIM Research Dataset Compendium for description of these datasets). Data are available annually beginning in 1997 for select databases and can be accessed after completion of a Data Use Agreement, online training, and application kit. HCUP databases range in price from $35 to more than $3,000 per State per year, depending on the State.
Expert comments
The SASD provide a unique view of same-day surgical procedures performed within a State. The databases are well suited for research that requires complete enumeration of hospital-based ambulatory surgery within market areas or a particular State. Researchers and policymakers can use the SASD to conduct market area research or small area variation analyses, and identify State-specific trends in ambulatory surgery utilization, access, charges, and outcomes. In conjunction with HCUP’s State Inpatient Databases (SID), the SASD can be used to compare inpatient surgery data with ambulatory surgery data and investigate the shifting of surgical procedures to outpatient facilities.
Dataset owner / manager
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), under the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) in collaboration with participating States.
Study and sample characteristics
The State Ambulatory State Databases are State-specific ambulatory surgical center encounters in participating States. Some States report data only for hospital-affiliated surgery centers, while other States also include from free-standing surgery centers. The SASD are released on an annual basis, and are available beginning in 1997 through the present.
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sasdoverview.jsp
Major foci
The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases include data elements routinely captured in discharge abstracts from ambulatory surgical encounters, including:
• Diagnoses
• Procedures
• Discharge status
• Patient demographics (e.g., gender, age, and, for some States, race)
• Expected payment source (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, self-pay; for some States, additional discrete payer categories, such as managed care)
• Total charges
See:
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/sasdoverview.jsp
The SASD data files also include information on diagnosis and procedures groups designed to facilitate analyses.
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sasddist/Introduction_to_SASD.pdf
A detailed list of data elements can be found at:
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/sasddist/sasd_multivar.jsp
Special supplements and resources
The HCUP Supplemental Files for Revisit Analyses are discharge-level files designed to facilitate the need to track sequential visits for a patient within in a state and across facilities and hospitals settings (inpatient, emergency department, ambulatory surgery) while adhering to strict privacy guidelines. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/toolssoftware/revisit/revisit.jsp
Links to other datasets
The SASD can be linked to the American Hospital Association Annual Survey File and the Area Resource File, except in those States that do not allow the release of hospital identifiers. Information on linking to AHA Annual Survey files is provided at:
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/db/state/ahalinkage/aha_linkage.jsp
Papers published
Click here for a PubMed search for articles using this dataset.
For a complete list of publications from the HCUP databases, see http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/pubsearch/pubsearch.jsp
Publications may be searched by database at http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/pu bsearch/pubsearch.jsp
Examples of papers published using the SASD include:
Obstructive sleep apnea surgery practice patterns in the United States: 2000 to 2006 Kezirian,E. J., Maselli,J., Vittinghoff,E., Goldberg,A. N., Auerbach,A. D.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2010 Sep;143(3):441-7.
Disparities in the use of ambulatory surgical centers: a cross sectional study Strope SA, Sarma A, Ye Z, Wei JT, Hollenbeck BK. BMC Health Serv Res. 2009 Jul 21;9:121.
Physician ownership of ambulatory surgery centers and practice patterns for urological surgery: evidence from the state of Florida. Strope SA, Daignault S, Hollingsworth JM, Ye Z, Wei JT, Hollenbeck BK. Med Care. 2009 Apr;47(4):403-10.
Population-based trends in volumes and rates of ambulatory lumbar spine surgery.
Gray DT, Deyo RA, Kreuter W, Mirza SK, Heagerty PJ, Comstock BA, Chan L.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2006 Aug 1;31(17):1957-63.
Dataset accessibility and cost
Data are deidentified and available for purchase after completion of a Data Use Agreement, HCUP online training, and SASD Application Kit. Data are priced per State per year, with costs ranging from $35 to over $3000 per State per year (varying in part whether the investigator is a student, non-profit institution, or for-profit entity). The investigator can select which States and which years they would like to purchase. Prices are listed in the application kit.
Application kit
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/centdist.jsp Note: pricing structures for several HCUP databases are listed in the same application kit document; be sure to consult the correct table
HCUP Data Use Agreement
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/tech_assist/dua.jsp
http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/team/SASDDUA.jsp
Help Desk
Members of SGIM may request a one-time consultation with an expert in this dataset, for example to explore research ideas or to troubleshoot a problem or vexing question. Please click here for guidelines and the request process.