AHCA Florida Ambulatory Data

RPC knows that data collection and working with large data sets can be a challenge, and has created the Health Data Store to serve as a continuously updated repository of health care data. The Health Data Store can provide you with customizable data, ranging from large nation-wide data sets to smaller and more pointed reports or health care snapshots. Our experience working with AHCA Florida Ambulatory Data allows us to query and package the data with confidence. We can also incorporate information from several different data sets to create in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the health care markets you are interested in. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss how the Health Data Store can help you with your information needs.

The Agency for Health Care Administration collects data on outpatient services performed in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), lithrotripsy centers, cardiac catheterization laboratories, and short term acute care hospitals in Florida. The Florida Ambulatory Data are updated on a quarterly basis, and there are approximately 3.1 million records per year. Each record in the dataset corresponds to an outpatient visit requiring surgery or an invasive diagnostic procedure. The file has patient-level data and includes information on patient demographics, diagnosis, procedure codes, attending physician, operating physician, discharge status and charges by department. The Health Data Store created a data dictionary for the file, which lists and describes the data elements and the file layout.

Some useful data elements include:

• Patient Zip Code
• Patient Sex and Race
• Up to 10 diagnosis codes
• Up to 15 procedure codes
• 11 revenue centers for more detailed charge data
• Discharge status
• Identifiers for attending physician, operating physician and other physician

AHCA releases the Florida Ambulatory Data once 75% of the reporting facilities have certified the accuracy of their data, which is usually accomplished by 130 days after the end of a reporting period. Data from all reporting facilities are typically verified within 180 days of the end of the reporting period, meaning the data set is more complete two months after the initial version is released by AHCA.

RPC has ambulatory discharge data from 1997- to the most recently released complete quarter. RPC also holds the AHCA emergency room data file, which is described in detail on its individual page.

Reporting Hospitals
As of 2010, Florida has approximately 294 hospitals. AHCA collects ambulatory data from approximately 650 ambulatory surgical centers, lithotripsy centers, cardiac catheterization laboratories and short-term acute care hospitals. State operated hospitals, federal hospitals, and Shriner’s hospitals are not required to report data to AHCA.

Data Applications
We can provide custom reports, graphs and maps using this data file and combining it with other health care and demographic files.

The tabulations and analysis RPC offers based on AHCA data has many potential uses for healthcare planners, financial analysts, and hospital executives. RPC offers custom reports using the AHCA data, and our consultants are happy to talk to you about how we can use the file to best meet your needs. A sample of the kinds of healthcare and financial data that can be gathered from the file are included below.

• Service mix analysis, using DRGs, and procedure codes
• Average charges by region, revenue center, procedure, or provider
• Average radiology charges, including MRI and CT scans by region, facility and diagnosis
• Payor mix analysis by provider and geographical region
• Patient demographic analysis by region, provider and payor
• Procedure and diagnosis rates by patient sex, age and race
• Discharge status patterns
• Florida outpatient market shares and outmigration by zip code and county
• Historical discharge, patient origin, diagnosis and procedure trends
• Florida Ambulatory data can be used in combination with RPC’s Medicare data holdings to estimate the cost of performing procedures at various facilities

Data Suppression
In order to protect patient anonymity, AHCA masks certain data elements before providing the collected Florida Ambulatory utilization data. Patient birth dates are converted to ages, and beginning and ending visit date are not reported, however, the calendar quarter is reported. In addition, patient IDs and social security numbers are not reported, and zip codes are masked when the total population of the zip code is less than 500. The Data Guide lists the data elements that are suppressed to protect patient confidentiality.

Data Use Restrictions
Due to confidentiality agreements, the Health Data Store can only release tabulations and analyses based on AHCA’s Florida Ambulatory data, and not the raw data itself.