Hospital Encounters Involving Drug Use by Urban–Rural Location of Hospital by Month From Selected Hospitals
Drug Use Hospital Data
The National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data on patient care in hospital-based settings to describe patterns of health care delivery and use in the United States. Settings include inpatient facilities and emergency departments (EDs).
NHCS results provided on drug use-associated hospital encounters are from UB–04 administrative claims data from January 1, 2020, through May 27, 2023, from 25 hospitals that submitted inpatient data and 25 hospitals that submitted ED data. The data used in these figures are preliminary, and the results may change with subsequent releases. The data file will be updated every 2 months. The data are not nationally representative but can provide insight on the impact of drug use on various types of hospitals throughout the country.
Results on this page show the percentage of encounters involving all drugs, all opioids, benzodiazepines, cannabis, and stimulants over time among all ED or inpatient encounters by the hospital’s urban–rural location. Data are presented for each setting (inpatient and ED) and for each month.
- These drug categories are defined by any listed International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD–10–CM) diagnosis code as follows:
- All Drugs—A hospital encounter involving for all drugs is defined as any listed ICD–10–CM diagnosis code for Indicator ICD-10 Codes.
- All Opioids—A hospital encounter involving for all opioids is defined as any listed ICD–10–CM diagnosis code for Indicator ICD-10 Codes.
- Benzodiazepines—A hospital encounter involving the use of benzodiazepines is defined as any listed ICD–10–CM diagnosis code for Indicator ICD-10 Codes.
- Cannabis—A hospital encounter involving for cannabis is defined as any listed ICD–10–CM diagnosis code for Indicator ICD-10 Codes.
- Stimulants—A hospital encounter involving for all stimulants is defined as any listed ICD–10–CM diagnosis code for Indicator ICD-10 Codes.
- The hospital urban–rural classification is based on the NCHS urban-rural classification scheme for counties. Three categories of urban–rural are shown:
- Large central and fringe metropolitan areas: Metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with a population of 1 million or more people.
- Medium and small metropolitan areas: MSA with a population less than 1 million people.
- Rural areas: Micropolitan (urban clusters with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000) and noncore (everything else considered non-micropolitan) areas.
- Hospital Encounters Involving Drug Use by Month From Selected Hospitals
- Hospital Encounters Involving Drug Use by Urban–Rural Location of Hospital by Month From Selected Hospitals
- Drug Use-Associated Hospital Encounters Involving Co-occurring Disorders by Month From Selected Hospitals
- Drug Use-Associated Hospital Encounters Involving COVID-19 by Month From Selected Hospitals
- Drug Overdose-Associated Hospital Encounters Involving Selected Drugs by Month from Selected Hospitals
- Opioid Overdose-Associated Hospital Encounters with Co-involvement of Selected Drugs by Month From Selected Hospitals
- 3,844,953 ED encounters and 1,394,429 inpatient discharges.
- Data are suppressed for months with less than 30 encounters in the denominator. In the Figure, months with suppressed data do not have a corresponding data point on the indicator line.
Technical Notes
- Data are not nationally representative.
- Less than 1% of all encounters are excluded due to missing sex, age, or diagnosis.
- Data represent encounters, not patients.
- Data are suppressed for months with less than 30 encounters in the denominator.
Data Source
The data presented are from the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 NHCS. The data in these figures are preliminary and not nationally representative. All estimates shown meet the NCHS Data Presentation Standards for Proportions.
NHCS’ goal is to produce national estimates on hospital care and use. The survey collects electronic data from Uniform Bill (UB–04) administrative claims or electronic health records for all encounters in a calendar year from a nationally representative sample of 601 hospitals. Information collected includes diagnoses, procedures, demographics, discharge status, and patient identifiers such as name and date of birth. Eligible hospitals from the 50 states and District of Columbia include noninstitutional and nonfederal hospitals with six or more staffed inpatient beds. Hospitals are currently being received into the survey. The survey is designed to produce objective and timely data to assess the health and well-being of the population and the performance and functioning of the health care system. For more details about NHCS, visit the National Hospital Care Survey website.