The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) announces the release of the 2020 Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample (NASS).
The NASS is the only all-payer ambulatory surgery database, yielding national and regional estimates of in-scope ambulatory surgery encounters performed in hospital-owned facilities. Constructed from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD), it is a calendar-year, encounter-level database of select therapeutic ambulatory surgeries.
The ambulatory surgeries selected for inclusion in the NASS are therapeutic procedures which require the use of an operating room, penetrate or break the skin, and involve regional anesthesia, general anesthesia, or sedation to control pain. Procedures intended primarily for diagnostic purposes are excluded. To be considered in-scope for the NASS, ambulatory surgeries are also required to have a relatively high annual volume or aggregate total facility charge. Examples include ambulatory surgeries such as cataract surgery, cholecystectomy, appendectomy, gastric bypass, hysterectomy, hernia repair, spinal fusion, and hip replacement.
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