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OBJECTIVES: This report presents national estimates of the use of non-Federal short-stay hospitals in the United States during 1994. Estimates are provided by demographic characteristics of patients discharged, geographic region of hospitals, conditions diagnosed, and surgical and nonsurgical procedures performed. Measurements of hospital use include number and rate of discharges and days of care, and the average length of stay.

METHODS: The estimates are based on data collected through the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 1994. The survey has been conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics since 1965. In the 1994, data were collected for approximately 277,000 discharges. Of the 512 eligible non-Federal short-stay hospitals, 478 (93 percent) responded to the survey. Diagnoses and procedures are presented according to their code number in the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification, or ICD-9-CM.

RESULTS: In 1994 there were an estimated 30.8 million discharges from non-Federal short-stay hospitals. These patients used a total of 177.2 million days of care and had an average length of stay of 5.7 days. Other data summarized in this report include estimates for diagnoses, procedures, expected source of payment, hospital deaths, and newborn infants.

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection

United States