70 Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS)

70.1 Organization

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS

70.3 Description

  • HIPPA-compliant, encounter-level
  • Largest all-payer ambulatory surgery database in US. Yields national estimates of major ambulatory surgery encounters performed in hospital-owned facilities
  • Three data files per year (Encounter, Hospital, Supplemental)

70.4 Vintage/Release Frequency

Annual since 2016

70.5 Observational Unit

Ambulatory surgery encounter

70.6 Collection Methodology

  • Sampled from the State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD).
  • Data from 2,699 hospital-owned facilities located in 31 States and the District of Columbia, approximating a 63-percent stratified sample of U.S. hospital-owned facilities performing selected ambulatory surgeries
  • Stratification is based on geographic region, trauma center designation, urban-rural location, teaching hospitals and hospital ownership or control.

70.7 Available at

Available for purchase by year. CPHR has 2016-2019 data.

70.9 Cost

Cost varies by year

70.10 Proposal or Application required?

Application form required

70.11 DUA required?

Yes

70.12 Special Notes

  • Query and classify patients using ICD-10 and/or CPT
  • You cannot track a particular patient across multiple encounters
  • All users must complete a Data Use Agreement Training and sign a DUA
  • Before publishing with any HCUP database, ensure manuscript follows requirements of the HCUP DUA and includes the appropriate citation (see https://www.hcup- us.ahrq.gov/db/publishing.jsp)