National hospital morbidity data collection

Recent releases

Australian hospital statistics 2006-07 (30 May 2008) (media release and publication)

Mental health services in Australia 2004-05 (27 April 2007) (media release and publication)

Report on the evaluation of the National Minimum Data Set for Public Hospital Establishments (19 February 2007) (publication)

Popular titles

Australia's health 2008 (24 June 2008) (media release and publication)

Australia's welfare 2007 (6 December 2007) (media release and publication)

National hospital morbidity database (NHMD)

The NHMD is compiled from data supplied by the state and territory health authorities. It is a collection of electronic confidentialised summary records for separations (that is, episodes of care) in public and private hospitals in Australia. Data are held for the years 1993-94 to 2006-07.
The National health data dictionary definitions form the basis of the database, ensuring a high standard of data comparability.
Diagnoses, procedures and external causes of injury are recorded using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and related Health Problems, Tenth revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM). For further information on the version used for each collection year see the ICD Coded Data Fact Sheet.
Almost all hospitals in Australia are included in the database: public acute and public psychiatric hospitals, private acute and psychiatric hospitals, and private free standing day hospital facilities. The total number of records for 2006-07 was 7.6 million.

Main data elements included in the NHMD

^Top

The data elements included in the NHMD are based on the National Minimum Data Set for Admitted Patient Care.

Establishment data

State or territory of the hospital
Sector (public, private)
RRMA (Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas) and other characteristics of the hospital (public hospitals only) (from 1995-96)
ARIA (Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia) of the hospital (from 1998-99, and only for some jurisdictions)
Remoteness Area of the hospital (from 2000-01).

Demographic data:

Sex
Date of birth
Age, age group (in 5-year groups)
Country of birth (from 1996-97)
Indigenous status
State and local area of residence (Statistical Local Area, Statistical Subdivision, Statistical Division; from 1997-98)
RRMA (Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas) of patient's residence (from 1995-96)
Remoteness Area of patient's residence (from 2000-01).

Administrative data

Funding source data elements including Admitted patient election status, Funding source for hospital patient, Department of Veterans' Affairs patient and Medicare eligibility status
Urgency of admission

Length of stay data

Admission and separation dates
Leave days
Same day flag (to indicate separation/discharge on the same day as admission)

Clinical and related data

Principal diagnosis (the diagnosis established after study to be chiefly responsible for occasioning the patient's episode of care in hospital)
Additional diagnoses (include co-existing conditions and/or complications)
Procedures (surgical and non-surgical)
Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) and Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (AR-DRG)
Estimated average cost for the AR-DRG (for the public and private sectors)
Care type (for example acute, rehabilitation, palliative, newborn) (from 1995-96 for some jurisdictions; the newborn category was introduced in 1998-99)
Admission mode (source from which the person was transferred/referred)
Separation mode (status at separation: discharge/transfer/death and place to which person is released)
Intended length of stay (same day or overnight)
External causes of injury or poisoning
Places of occurrence of external cause
Activity when injured (from 1998-99)

Publications

^Top

An annual report is published on hospital activity and operations. The current report, Australian hospital statistics 2006-07, includes analyses of the majority of data elements in the database and hard copies are available for $42.00 from Can Print.

Previous versions of Australian hospital statistics can be accessed online via the links below.

Example of data from the NHMD (Figure 8.1, p186 of Australian hospital statistics 2006-07)

^Top

For more examples of data from the NHMD go to Hospitals at a glance.

National hospital morbidity data service

^Top

The AIHW provides extracts of data from the National hospital morbidity database (NHMD) on request. A charge may apply. The amount charged will depend on the extract requirements and the complexity of the analysis undertaken.

Confidentialised data based on records included in the Database are available for a range of epidemiological and health service research and planning purposes including analyses based on the Australian system of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs).

To request data from this database email Hospitals Unit

Note:

Date of birth: Generally only provided under special circumstances and is not available for all jurisdictions for each year
State and local area of residence: level of detail required can be discussed
Admission and separation dates: not generally released by jurisdictions. However, month/year of admission and separation/discharge may be released

Additional information and limitations

^Top

The term 'separation' refers to the episode of care, which can be a total hospital stay (from admission to discharge, transfer or death), or a portion of a hospital stay beginning or ending in a change of type of care (for example, from acute to rehabilitation). A record is included for each separation, not for each patient. So patients who separate more than once have more than one record in the database.
The actual definitions used by the data providers may vary from year to year and between jurisdictions and sectors. Comparisons between the states and territories, reporting years and hospital sectors should be therefore made with caution.
The major exceptions within the public sector are hospitals operated by the Department of Defence, correctional facilities and hospitals located in off-shore territories. There are also some exceptions within the private sector. The scope of the data collection has also varied from year to year. Comparisons between the states and territories, reporting years and hospital sectors should be therefore made with caution.
The RRMA (Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Area) classification allocates locations to one of seven geographical area types, based on population size and an index of remoteness.
The ARIA (Accessibility/Remoteness Index for Australia) defines remoteness in terms of the minimum distance by road of populated localities to four categories of service centre.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Remoteness Area classification allocates locations into one of six broad geographical area types based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia.
Each DRG represents a class of patients with similar clinical conditions requiring similar hospital services. Therefore, they provide a common basis for comparing factors such as cost-effectiveness and quality of care across hospitals (from 1995-96).

Last reviewed on 30 May 2008