Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS)
Overview
SPARCS is a comprehensive all payer data reporting system established in 1979 as a result of cooperation between the healthcare industry and government. The system was initially created to collect information on discharges from hospitals. SPARCS currently collects patient level detail on patient characteristics, diagnoses and treatments, services, and charges for each hospital inpatient stay and outpatient (ambulatory surgery, emergency department, and outpatient services) visit; and each ambulatory surgery and outpatient services visit to a hospital extension clinic and diagnostic and treatment center licensed to provide ambulatory surgery services.
The enabling legislation for SPARCS is located under Section 28.16 of the Public Health Law (PHL). The regulations pertaining to SPARCS are under Section 400.18 of Title 10 (Health) of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules, and Regulations of the State of New York (NYCRR).
Further Reading- SPARCS Operations Guide (PDF, 996 KB)
- Data Governance Policy and Procedure Manual (PDF, 527 KB)
Contact Information
SPARCS Operations
Bureau of Health Informatics
Office of Quality and Patient Safety
New York State Department of Health
Empire State Plaza
Corning Tower, Room 1970
Albany, New York 12237
Phone: (518) 474-3189
Fax: (518) 486-3518
Questions/Comments: sparcs.submissions@health.ny.gov
Data Requests: sparcs.requests@health.ny.gov
