Key points
- Learn what steps you will take to participate in National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS).
- Read about the three ways you will provide data to NHCS.
- Find out about submitting data through our easy electronic process with our help.
About
Welcome to the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS). You are a critical part of this important national survey to understand hospitals and patient care. We are excited to partner with your facility on this important work.
To learn more about why your hospital should participate, visit our Why Participate page.
NHCS in 3 steps
All participating hospitals follow the same steps. We will work closely with you to make sure you can participate on a schedule that works for your facility. We also will provide instructions and assistance to you for each of these steps.
- Participate in a one-time phone interview to determine if your hospital and its emergency department are eligible for NHCS. This may take up to 1 hour, including the time it takes for us to answer any questions you have.
- Submit your hospital's data annually by sharing electronic health records (EHRs) or Uniform Bill (UB)-04 administrative claims data for all inpatient discharges and emergency department visits. We also can accept a copy of the electronic file you submit to your state. The file must be in the same format as the state receives. Setting up electronic data submission may take up to 4 hours, though this varies by hospital.
- Complete the Annual Hospital Interview about your hospital's characteristics. You will provide information like total admissions, births, number of beds, and emergency department visits. You will complete this interview by phone, email, or web portal. This interview may take up to 2 hours.
As an NHCS participant, we also may occasionally ask you to join one of our voluntary special studies.
Submitting your data
Ready to submit your electronic data?
Submitting electronic health records
If you would like to submit electronic health record (EHR) data, we will contact you to set up a secure file transfer procedure. Hospitals that use Epic or Center EHR systems can use their vendor's products to participate in NHCS.
Submitting UB-04 claims data
Hospitals that previously submitted UB-04 administrative claims data through the Westat Secure Transfer System (WSTS) should now submit claims data through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).
To prepare UB-04 claims data for submission:
- Confirm NHSN enrollment—Visit the NHSN website or contact your hospital's infection prevention team to verify your facility's enrollment or begin enrollment if needed.
- Review NHCS Consent to Participate—Hospital leadership must review and approve your facility's participation in sharing claims data.
- Prepare your UB-04 claims data—Visit the NHSN Healthcare Claims webpage to access the following resources:
- Claims data reporting protocol—Provides detailed instructions for reporting claims data to NHSN and using the claims data dictionary and template
- Claims data template—Standardized .CSV file templates with the required structure, fields, and formatting
- Claims data dictionary—Defines the required data elements, formats and specifications
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