The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) has been fielded annually since 1992 to collect data on the utilization and provision of ambulatory care services in hospital emergency and outpatient departments. Data collection from hospital-based ambulatory surgery centers began in 2009. And between 2010 and 2012 NHAMCS gathered data on visits to freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. In 2018, the survey began focusing on just the ambulatory visits made to emergency departments.
Each emergency department is randomly assigned to a 4-week reporting period. During this period, data for a systematic random sample of visits are recorded by Census interviewers using a computerized Patient Record Form. Data are obtained on patient characteristics such as age, sex, race, and ethnicity, and visit characteristics such as patient’s reason for visit, provider’s diagnosis, services ordered or provided, and treatments, including medication therapy. In addition, data about the facility are collected as part of a survey induction interview.
