Persons with Hospital Stays in the Past Year (Archives, 1997-2015)

This database is no longer updated. See Related Databases.

This database presents data on hospital stays in the past year by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, poverty, citizenship status, region, disability status, insurance coverage, and metropolitan status.  Data are based on household interviews of the civilian non-institutionalized population.  Unless otherwise indicated, all data are presented in percent.  

• The race groups white, black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other PacificIslander, and 2 or more races, include persons of Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Starting with 1999 data, race-specific estimates are tabulated according to the 1997 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity and are not strictly comparable with estimates for earlier years. Single-race categories plus multiple-race categories shown in the table conform to the 1997 Standards. Starting with 1999 data, race-specific estimates are for persons who reported only one racial group; the category 2 or more races includes persons who reported more than one racial group. Prior to 1999, data were tabulated according to the 1977 Standards with four racial groups, and the Asian only category included Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Estimates for single-race categories prior to 1999 included persons who reported one race or, if they reported more than one race, identified one race as best representing their race.  Starting with 2003 data, race responses of other race and unspecified multiple race were treated as missing, and then race was imputed if these were the only race responses.
• Percent of poverty level is based on family income and family size and compositionusing U.S. Census Bureau poverty thresholds.  Missing family income data were imputed for 1997 and beyond.
• Health insurance categories are mutually exclusive. Persons who reportedboth Medicaid and private coverage are classified as having private coverage.  Starting with 1997 data, state-sponsored health plan coverage is included as Medicaid coverage. Starting with 1999 data, coverage by the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is included with Medicaid coverage.  In addition to private and Medicaid, the insured category also includes military, other government, and Medicare coverage.  Persons not covered by private insurance, Medicaid, CHIP, state-sponsored or other government-sponsored health plans (starting in 1997), Medicare, or military plans are considered to have no health insurance coverage. Persons with only Indian Health Service coverage are considered to have no health insurance coverage.
• For disability categories, any basic actions difficulty or complex activity limitation is defined as having one or more of thefollowing limitations or difficulties: movement difficulty, emotional difficulty, sensory (seeing or hearing) difficulty, cognitive difficulty, self-care (activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living) limitation, social limitation, or work limitation.  Starting with 2007 data, the hearing question, a component of the basic actions difficulty measure, was revised and data prior to 2007 are not comparable with data for 2007 and beyond.