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NORC at the University Chicago

National Hospital Care Survey Data Linkages

The side of an ambulance
Linking NHCS data to National Death Index and CMS Master Beneficiary Records
  • Client
    National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
  • Dates
    2017 - 2019

NORC at the University of Chicago created two linked data sets at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The data sets are available to outside researchers with an approved project application at the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (OS-PCORTF) funded the work.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) houses unique national data resources and expertise, including the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS), which provides statistics on health and health care utilization based on patient hospital and emergency department visits, medical claims records, electronic health records, and information on provider and patient characteristics.

NORC linked NHCS data to two other data sets:

  • National Death Index (NDI) records. (Linked data indicates that the NHCS patient has died after hospitalization.)
  • CMS Master Beneficiary Records. (Linked data indicates that the NHCS patient was enrolled in Medicare at or around the time of their hospitalization.)

Together these linkages will enable estimates of cause-specific death rates following emergency visits and hospital stays for specific conditions.

After NORC completed the linkage, the NCHS awarded NORC additional NHCS linkage contracts:

  • Technical support to link the National Hospital Care Survey data to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Housing and Urban Development data
  • Technical Support to conduct privacy-preserving record linkage methodological work and to link the National Hospital Care Survey data to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) data
  • Technical Support to link the National Center for Health Statistics Data to Veterans’ Affairs Administrative Records

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