North Carolina Hospital Database

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 North Carolina Hospital Database files 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 Medical Facilities Planning Section of the Department of Health Services Regulation collects and releases data on hospitals operating within the state. The data is obtained from hospital license renewal applications, which are collected annually.  The health data store holds a data dictionary for the file, which lists and describes the data elements and the file layout. While the hospital database provides the most accurate indication of hospital-reported data available from the state, the Medical Facilities Planning Section gives no assurance of its accuracy, and reserves the right to update it at any time.

The data set includes information on hospital characteristics as well as types of care provided. Some useful types of data included in the North Carolina Hospital Database are:

Some useful data elements include:

• Hospital's Average Daily Census
• Patient origin by hospital
• Number of procedures by equipment type (such as CT scanners)
• Days of care by patient age
• Procedures performed by CPT code
• Reimbursement sources
• Licensed and staffed beds by hospital unit
• Admissions, discharges and observation patients

RPC holds these files from 2008 to 2010 (the most recent year available).

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 data from the North Carolina Hospital Database has many potential uses for healthcare planners, financial analysts, and hospital executives. RPC offers custom reports using the North Carolina Hospital Database, 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 data that can be gathered from the file are included below.

• Procedure frequencies by hospital or geography
• Historical analysis of imaging equipment and procedures done by hospital
• Historical analysis of average daily census
• Historical and/or geographical analysis of admissions
• Procedures performed by hospital designation (Trauma Centers, Critical Access Hospitals)
• Historical patient origin analysis
• Market share analysis

Data Use Restrictions
There are no stated data use restrictions for North Carolina Hospital Database.