Hospital Morbidity Data

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Hospital Morbidity Data

Every request for inpatient data will be evaluated separately on its merit by the HMDC

Data Custodian. To prevent potential delays it is strongly recommended applicants spend time discussing their needs with the HMDC Data Custodian before submitting an application for data. See the contacts at:

Last updated 09May 2017Module 3 Variable Lists

It is imperative applicants have referred to the online summary of HMDC data fields of the HMDC reference manual before requesting data. These documents record the changes in HMDC data collection practices/protocols over time and detail the HMDC variables. See these documents online at:

Last updated 09May 2017Module 3 Variable Lists

For all requests, unless requested otherwise, typical exclusions include healthy newborns, boarders, organ procurements, aged care residents, funding (duplicate) hospital cases and residential aged care facilities.

Please note:Certain combinations of variables are potentially identifying and release of these combinations will be at the discretion of the HMDC Data Custodian.

Request variables below by checking boxes

Request / Variable / Description
Standard Information (provided on all HMDC data extracts)
Admission age / Age in years
Sex
Admission status / Elective or emergency admission. Variable is unreliable from 1986-1989 and 1996-1998.
Care type / E.g., Acute, Rehabiliation, Palliative etc.
Subset admission date / MMYYYY
Subset separation date / MMYYYY
Mode of separation / E.g., Transferred to another hospital, deceased, discharged etc
Patient Information
Subset date of birth / MMYYYY
Subset date of birth / YYYY
Indigenous status
Marital status / Variable may be unreliable.
Employment status / Variable may be unreliable, is not an indication occupation.
Country/State of birth
State/Territory of residence
OR / Health Region of Hospital
OR (request only one)
Hospital Type / TheWA health regions e.g.,North & South Metro, Goldfields, South-West, Great Southern, Wheatbelt, Midwest, Pilbara, Kimberley.
E.g., Tertiary, public metro, private metro and rural
Interpreter service / Variable may be unreliable.
Language / Variable may be unreliable.
Length of stay / Excludes days on leave
≠ Separation date – admission date.
Source of referral- location / Available on data after July 2000
Source of referral- professional
Source of referral- transport
Source of referral / Available on data prior to July 2000
Infant weight / Available where age is less than 1 year.
Funding source / E.g., AHCA, private insurance, self-funded, worker’s compensation etc.
Insurance status / Variable indicates if the patient has hospital (not ancillary) insurance, is not an indication of a patient’s method of payment
Total leave days
Number of leave periods
Days of psychiatric care
Days of qualified newborn care
Days of Hospital in the Home care
Days in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) / Available on data prior to July 2013
Hours in ICU / Available on data after July 2013
Hours of Continuous Ventilatory Support
Diagnosis Codes
Principal diagnosis / International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes:
Jan 1970 - Dec 1978 ICD-8
Jan 1979 - Dec 1987 ICD-9
Jan 1988 - Jun 1999 ICD-9-CM (Clinical Modification; Aust.)
Jul 1999 - ICD-10-AM (Australian Modification)
Be cautious when referring to ICD codes available online, which may not be the same as the Australian versions.
Co-diagnosis
Additional diagnoses(up to20)
E-Codes
External cause of injury
Activity code
Place of occurrence
Procedure Codes
Principal procedure / Jan 1970 - Dec 1978 Code of Surgical Operations (1968)
Jan 1979 - Dec 1987 International Classification of Procedures in Medicine (1978)
Jan 1988 - Jun 1999 ICD-9-CM (Clinical Modification, Aust.)
Jul 1999 - Australian Classification of Health
Interventions (ACHI)
Be cautious when referring to procedure codes available online, which may not be the same as the Australian versions.
Additional procedures(up to10)

Geocoding

Geocoding
Census year(s) requested:
1996 2001 2006 2011
Postcode
RA / Remoteness Area
Local Government Area (ABS) / 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
Statistical Local Area (ABS) / 1996, 2001, 2006 census
SA2 (ABS) / 2011 census
SEIFA / Socioeconomic status consisting of four indices by CD, LGA, SLA and SA2:

Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD)
Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD)
Index of Education and Occupation (IEO)
Index of Economic Resources (IER).

Geocoding Information:

The Data Linkage Branch routinely processes address data from the HMDC to match each record’s address to a longitude and latitude. DLB also provides a “Match Quality”, a coded field describing the method and specificity of the match. Information on interpreting the match score will be provided with your data. The geocoding process is dependent upon the quality of the address data, and in some cases an address may be difficult or impossible to geocode accurately, or at all.

While the latitude and longitude are not normally provided to researchers for reasons of confidentiality, corresponding geocodes are available, including Statistical Area (SA1 and SA2), Collection District (CD), Statistical Local Area (SLA) and Local Government Area (LGA). Some of these are realigned from one census to the next. The geocodes available are CD, SLA and LGA for the 1996, 2001 and 2006 censes, while SA1, SA2 and LGA are available for 2011. Additionally, for each geocode/census combination, the Data Linkage Branch can assign Socio-Economic Indices for Area (SEIFA) and/or Remoteness Areas (RA). Please note that records with poor Match Quality will be assigned a region (e.g. an SA1) based on the centroid of a potentially large match area. This area may not overlap entirely with the assigned region. Therefore, some regions may be assigned in error. This limitation should be noted for any spatial analysis.

The boundaries, SEIFAs and RAs are developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the Data Linkage Branch uses mapping files available through the ABS website to attach them to the data. Queries about their interpretation and use should be directed to the ABS. For further information, please visit the ABS website at

Please note that, due to their small coverage, CD and SA1 are not usually included. Should you require these on your extract please provide written justification in the Sensitive Variables section of this document.

Last updated 09May 2017Module 3 Variable Lists

Other Variables

All of the variables below require written justification. Please provide this in the space in the table below. Items in bold require DOHWA HREC approval.

Hospital Establishment codes are considered identifying information, especially if they involve private establishments. Provision of these codes requires DOHWA HREC approval and/or hospital ethics approval. Approval from the Chief Executive of the area health service may also be required.

Request / Variable / Description
Full date of birth / DDMMYYYY
Requires DOHWA HREC approval
Enter justification here
Age in days at admission / Available where age in years is less than 1 year
Enter justification here
Collection District (ABS) / Refer to geocoding information above (1996, 2001 and 2006 census)
Enter justification here
SA1 (ABS) / Refer to geocoding information above (2011 census)
Enter justification here
Admission date / DDMMYYYY
Enter justification here
Separation date / DDMMYYYY
Enter justification here
Principal procedure date / DDMMYYYY
Enter justification here
Additional procedure dates / DDMMYYYY
Can be incomplete
Enter justification here
Mental health legal status / Please also select Days of Psychiatric Care
Enter justification here
Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) / Available July 1993 onwards
Grouper version
Enter justification here
Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) / Available July 1993 onwards
Grouper version
Enter justification here
Patient Identifier (UMRN) / Requires DOHWA HREC and Health Service/Hospital Chief Executive approval
Enter justification here
Hospital Identifier / Requires DOHWA HREC and Health Service/Hospital Chief Executiveapproval
Enter justification here

Comments:

Enter any extra comments here

Last updated 09May 2017Module 3 Variable Lists