This document provides information for users of the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) Public Use Data File for 2009. Conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), NHDS is a principal source of information on inpatient hospital utilization in the United States. Section I describes the survey and includes information on the history and scope of NHDS; methodology, including data collection and medical coding procedures; population estimates; measurement errors and sampling errors. Section II provides technical details about the file. Section III provides a detailed description of the contents of each data re- cord. Appendix A defines certain terms used in this document; Appendix B lists the ICD-9-CM Addenda; Appendix C provides population estimates to allow for the calculation of utilization rates; Appendix D provides unweighted and weighted frequencies for selected vari- ables; and Appendix E includes a copy of the NHDS Medical Abstract Form. NHDS_2009_Documentation.pdf

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