Frequency:Annually
Measure Type: Volume
The New York State Department of Health uses the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) to store information of discharges from hospitals. They also currently collect information on the patient’s demographics, treatment, and services on those who receive emergency care. They aid hospitals to manage finances, and monitor patients services and costs.
Their data is collected electronically from hospitals and all files are updated annually. A hospital can add data on a patient at any time (starting from 1982 to present). Tables are created on the website to display the total amount of patients (per hospital) that have been group based on a demographic variable. For example, you can view ‘Emergency Department Visits’ based on the hospital for a county. Specific categories are also available, such as emergency department visits, based on gender or ethnicity. SPARCS also displays inpatient and outpatient records to the public, such as the length of stay (discharges) categorized by gender for different age groups.