Introduction

The SPARCS Inpatient Output Data Dictionary has been prepared as a resource document for the Inpatient Output data files.

Prior to 1994, SPARCS data was submitted in two parts: DDA and UBF. This data was matched to create a Match file. This file contained all the matched and unmatched DDAs and UBFs, which indicated the patient was discharged from the hospital. Interim Bill UBFs, which are UBFs whose discharge status indicated that the patient as not yet discharged from the hospital, were kept on a separate file.

When SPARCS submission requirements adopted the UDS Version 4 Specifications, it became necessary to convert the Match and Interim Bill files to the new edited format known as the inpatient output format. In order to have valid data on the master files, only COMPLETE cases of matched records were placed on the new master files. All other data was converted and placed on an INCOMPLETE file.

It should be noted that as part of the issues related to year 2000, Version 4 has been replaced by Version 5. Version 6 was developed to accommodate Medicare program needs for reporting additional charge information. SPARCS currently supports both Version 5 and 6.

The conversion notes apply to all inpatients SPARCS data with discharge dates thru 1993, which were received in the DDA/UBF format.

Some Generic Conversion Notes

Dates

With the exception of date of birth on the DDA, all dates on the DDA and UBFs were stored as 6 digit fields in the format YYMMDD. All dates on the inpatient output format are stored as 8 digit fields in the format YYYYMMDD. For some DDAs, the DDA birth date was already in the 8 digit format. A century code of '19' was put on all dates, except for the Patient Birth Date. The Patient Birth Date Field Description details the method used for the determination of century for that field.

ICD-9-CM Codes

The version 5 and 6 Specifications have allotted 6 characters for diagnosis codes, and 7 characters for procedure codes. In all cases the ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes are stored as left justified space filled fields.