1996 summary: National Hospital Discharge Survey.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This report presents national estimates of the use of non-Federal short-stay hospitals in the United States during 1996. Numbers and rates of discharges, diagnoses, and procedures are shown by age and sex. Discharges are also shown by geographic region of hospital. Average lengths of stay are presented for discharges and selected diagnostic categories. METHODS: The estimates are based on medical abstract data collected through the National Hospital Discharge Survey for 1996. The survey has been conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics since 1965. Diagnoses and procedures presented are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification, or ICD-9-CM. RESULTS: In 1996, there were an estimated 30.5 million discharges of inpatients, excluding newborn infants, from non-Federal, short-stay hospitals in the United States. The discharge rate was 116 per 1,000 population and the average length of stay was 5.2 days. Five diagnostic categories accounted for more than a million discharges. These were heart disease, delivery, malignant neoplasms, pneumonia, and psychoses. There were 40.4 million procedures performed on hospital inpatients during the same year. About three-fourths of all procedures were in four ICD-9-CM chapters: miscellaneous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, obstetrical procedures, operations on the cardiovascular system, and operations on the digestive system.