Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project also known as HCUP, a comprehensive tool for hospital data, providing information on in-patient, ambulatory care, and emergency department visits. Through time HCUP provides researchers, insurers, policymakers, and others to study health care delivery and patient outcomes at a national, regional, state, and community level. HCUP is composed of a databases and related software developed through a federal-state industry partnership and sponsored by AHRQ. HCUP databases include information from clinical and nonclinical information, which include diagnoses and procedures, discharge status, patient demographics, and charges for all patients, regardless of payer. Some HCUP databases are National Inpatient Sample,
