Updated June 21, 2022
Notice ID AHRQ-22-10009
“To meet the goals of this project, the following activities are required:
- Maintain voluntary data partners, complete data applications, negotiate or update Memorandums of Agreement for participation, purchase data from HCUP Partners, recruit additional data from existing partners, and establish new partnerships when possible
- Process data obtained from HCUP Partners organizations (~ 35 million records annually) and create annual and quarterly state inpatient and outpatient data files
- Sample the HCUP state databases to create derivative national databases
- Coordinate the centralized distribution of HCUP data, handling all activities directly related to the sales and review of applications for access to the restricted access public release HCUP databases and related HCUP files. (See https://www.hcupus.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp )
- Maintain and update the HCUP website (HCUP-US) which serves as the project’s primary vehicle for public outreach, and a virtual repository for project information and documentation
- Develop new products, database enhancements, and services to assist with the productive use of the data
- Deliver user technical support and training on HCUP databases, software tools, linkable files, reports, and all other products developed for the HCUP project
- Conduct data analytics and methods projects using the HCUP data to explore the impact and relative importance of changes in health policy on health care, and to document and analyze trends in health care
- Prepare technical reports and publications
- Prepare data tables for visualizations, query sites, and HCUP-US website • Conduct outreach to increase use and impact from HCUP
- Support the generation of estimates derived from HCUP data for other federal use, e.g., Congressionally-mandated reports such as the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports
- Develop systems for monitoring and maintaining secure and efficient computing environment…”
“C.2 OBJECTIVES
The objectives for this contract are to: 1) maintain and enhance HCUP databases and tools with both more timely and new types of data; 2) increase the usefulness of HCUP data and tools by turning data into timely end user information; 3) expand HCUP capacity for external and internal linkages, data enhancements, and additional data sources; 4) provide technical expertise to make HCUP data and tools available to an expanded and diverse set of public and private users; 5) provide data analytics to identify and interpret healthcare issues and trends and 6) create information using HCUP data and tools to produce important findings about access, cost, quality, safety, effectiveness, equity, and efficiency in healthcare. Considerable effort will be needed for the Contractor to establish and build the infrastructure to simultaneously contact and build a relationship with HCUP Partners, obtain, process, document, and deliver multiple databases of varying structures. It is required that the Contractor shall prepare and coordinate the dissemination of public release databases and files, conduct research, perform special analyses, provide technical support and training, establish secure IT systems and data protection, and successful completion of an Authority to Operate within the first quarter of the base period. All activities require attention to detail and precise documentation. All tasks and activities are described below…”
Posted April 4, 2022
Notice ID: HHS-AHRQ-SBSS-22-10002
The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is one of AHRQ’s flagship projects producing health care databases, related software tools and research products. HCUP features the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the U.S., containing a wealth of all-payer, encounter-level information beginning in 1988. HCUP databases facilitate cutting-edge research on a broad range of health policy and health services issues, including cost and quality of health services, medical practice patterns, access to health care projects, hospital cost and utilization, and treatment outcomes at the national, state, and local market levels.
The large size and scope of HCUP databases enable unique analyses, such as in tracking utilization for population subgroups, such as minorities, children, women, and the uninsured, and HCUP databases include information on specific medical conditions and procedures, including rare events. HCUP databases include the State Inpatient Databases (SID), the State Ambulatory Surgery & Services (SASD), the State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD), National Inpatient Sample (NIS), the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID), the Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS), the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), and the Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD).
In addition to the annual production of research databases, more than one dozen data and analytic software tools and supplemental files are also created and supported by the Contractor to facilitate users’ ability to use the large administrative databases and to enhance use of any data based on ICD-10 coding. Contractor responsibilities also encompass such activities as creating timely information from the data, conducting data analytics, providing user support, electronic documentation, centralized data distribution, technical data training, publications, and producing statistical briefs, among others. The Contractor maintains on-line access to aggregate statistics through a sophisticated query system. Prospective purchasers and all persons with access to the databases are required to read and sign a Data Use Agreement and must agree to use the database for research and statistical purposes only and to make no attempts to identify individuals.
The next phase of HCUP will build on the structure of the project that has been developed over the past 35 years and add to the project’s capacity to provide information that can be used by researchers and policymakers to assess and evaluate health care delivery in the United States. By maintaining and strengthening the foundation, which includes a successful partnership with HCUP Partners, and by maintaining and creating new enhancements to the project, AHRQ will broaden the reach and impact of HCUP data and products. Strengthening and enhancing the project enables improvement in its ability to inform, evaluate, analyze, and measure healthcare delivery and safety improvements, and provides the possibility of developing new collaborative efforts within HHS and other federal and State partners, thereby adding to HCUP’s value and visibility.
Project Requirements
- Maintain voluntary data partners, negotiate, or update Memorandums of Agreement for participation, purchase data from HCUP Partners, recruit additional data from existing partners, and establish new partnerships when possible
- Process and create uniformly formatted state inpatient and outpatient encounter-level data files obtained from HCUP Partners organizations
- Sample the HCUP state databases to create derivative national databases
- Maintain and update the HCUP website (HCUP-US) which serves as the project’s primary vehicle for public outreach, and a virtual repository for project information and documentation
- Develop products, tools, and services to assist with the productive use of the data including potential data linkages and new databases
- Facilitate the collaborative learning among all members of the project (AHRQ, HCUP Partner organizations, data users, health systems, and stakeholders) by providing technical support and training
- Provide technical expertise and analytic files to AHRQ to facilitate understanding and use of the HCUP databases, documentation, and products
