Hospital admissions due to dog bites increases by 86%

From a US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Statistical Brief, Emergency Department Visits and Inpatient Stays Involving Dog Bites, 2008

The number of people admitted to the hospital because of dog bites increased by 86 percent – from 5,100 to 9,500 hospital stays – between 1993 and 2008.  Treating patients admitted for dog bites cost hospitals an average of $18,200 per patient and $54 million overall.

This report include tables and color charts with variables as insurance coverage, age of dog bite victims, principle diagnoses, and related procedures.

An overview of the  US Health Care Cost and Utilization Project(H-CUP) (from their Fact Sheet)

BackgroundThe Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is a family of health care databases and related software tools developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership to build a multi-State health data system for health care research and decisionmaking.

HCUP is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) as part of its mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the Nation’s health care system. This fact sheet summarizes current HCUP resources.

DatabasesHCUP databases contain a core set of clinical and nonclinical information found in a typical discharge abstract including all-listed diagnoses and procedures, discharge status, patient demographics, and charges for all patients, regardless of payer (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, uninsured). The information is translated into a uniform format to facilitate both multi-State and national-State comparisons and analyses.

Further details, future updates, and links to all HCUP databases are available at: http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp.