Guidance Document on Creating and Releasing Hospital and Facility Discharge Data Public Use Files

The National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) in collaboration with its State Data Release Guidelines Workgroup produced this Guidance Document on Creating and Releasing Hospital and Facility Discharge Data Public Use Files to guide Health Data Organizations  and others who are seeking guidance on best practices for disseminating hospital discharge data files and the privacy parameters for such releases. Specifically this guidance document aims to promote the release of useful information in Public Use File creation for multiple users and uses by:

  • Informing and guiding data release policies and practices in state health data organizations;
  • Providing evidence-based practices to anonymize hospital data sets in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the patient.