Health Services Research Collaborative

Databases

The Texas Health Care Information Collection (THCIC) Hospital Discharge Database

Provided by Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) 

Overview 

The Texas Health Care Information Collection was created in September 1995 by the Texas State Legislature to obtain hospital inpatient discharge data and health maintenance organization performance data (Section 108). All state licensed hospitals (excluding statutorily exempt "rural providers") are required to submit inpatient discharge data on all patients to the THCIC. The quality of the data is assured by the agency.

Contents: 

The THCIC discharge data contains information on patient demographics, source of admission, length of stay in days, discharge status (alive or dead), diagnosis (primary and secondary ICD-9-CM code), charges (accommodation and ancillary), source of payment, risk mortality (likelihood of dying), severity of illness (organ system loss of function), as well as other information (hospital facility ID, hospital name, source of admission, admission/discharge dates, and address and zip codes of patients and hospitals).

Access: 

* Statewide and regional data are available by quarter from 1999 to 2005.

Usage: 

  1. Describe trends in trauma care and determine if there is a correlation between hospital emergency room diversion status and trauma care outcomes.
  2. Reference: “Emergency Department Diversion and Trauma Mortality: Evidence from Houston, Texas”. Charles E. Begley et al. The Journal of TRAUMA. 2004; 57:1260-1265).
  3. Click here for a presentation about the THCIC hospital discharge data.
  4. Reference: CODE RED: The Critical Condition of Health in Texas. http://www.coderedtexas.org/ for full version of contents.

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Survey Data

Supported by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

Overview 

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was initiated in 1984, with 15 states collecting surveillance data on risk behaviors through monthly telephone interviews. Currently all states are participating in BRFSS. The objective of the BRFSS is to collect uniform, state-specific data on preventive health practices and risk behaviors that are linked to chronic diseases, injuries, and preventable infectious diseases in the adult population. The BRFSS is a collaborative project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. states and territories. The BRFSS is an ongoing data collection program designed to measure behavioral risk factors in the adult population (18 years of age or older) living in households. Factors assessed by the BRFSS include tobacco use, health care coverage, HIV/AIDS knowledge and prevention, physical activity, and fruit and vegetable consumption. BRFSS field operations are managed by state health departments.

Contents: 

Information includes health status, demographics, health care access, women’s health, hypertension awareness, immunization, cholesterol awareness, colorectal cancer, screening diabetes, injury control, tobacco use (smoking), HIV/AIDS, alcohol consumption, skin cancer, and more.

Prevalence data contain 28 categories such as diabetes, asthma, exercise, women’s health and so forth.

Trend data contain 16 categories such as alcohol use, smoking, overweight, and so on.

SMART (selected metropolitan/micropolitan area risk trends)

Local area health risk data; 28 categories contained

Access: 

Data and materials produced by federal agencies may be reproduced without permission via public domain. User’s Guide may be obtained via :

http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/pubs/index.htm#users 

Data availability: Roughly six to seven months after the data has been collected for a given calendar year the CDC makes a public use data file available via the BRFSS website at:

http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/technical_infodata/surveydata.htm 

Usage 

  1. Identify demographic variations in health related behaviors and address emergent and critical health issue regarding behavioral risk factors in the community and propose legislation for health initiatives.
  2. Reference: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/brfss/pages/riskf.shtm 
  3. There are two BRFSS downloadable datasets. Click here for a presentation about SMART (estimates for local area) and here for a presentation about the state level BRFSS data. Both documents describe how to obtain and analyze the data

For additional information email Munseok Seo or contact the Texas Department of State Health Services for THCIC or BRFSS.