Across the nation, 48 states collect discharge data from their licensed acute care hospitals. Such data provide a complete census of all patients discharged from these hospitals and encompasses all payers. Elements typically collected include patient demographics; clinical, utilization, and payer data; and financial information. Given that the demand for health care cost, quality, and access information at the physician level is growing, many states also collect physician identifiers on hospital discharge records, and some leverage this information to produce quality reports.

California is one of only a few states that do not yet collect physician identifiers on hospital discharge data. This white paper by the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) examines what other states are doing with respect to the collection of physician identifiers and the barriers and challenges involved.

The complete report is available on the NAHDO site accessible through the External Link.