The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is a family of healthcare databases and related tools and resources developed through a federal-state-industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). HCUP is the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States.

Key components of the HCUP include:

Nationwide Databases: HCUP databases include the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD), and the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID). These databases capture discharge information from hospitals across the United States, covering a wide range of geographic areas, hospital types, and patient populations.

State Databases: HCUP State Inpatient Databases (SID) and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) contain detailed information on inpatient and emergency department visits from participating states. Each state database includes data from all community hospitals in the state, providing valuable insights into local healthcare utilization and outcomes.

Tools and Resources: HCUP provides a suite of tools and resources to facilitate analysis of healthcare data, including HCUPnet, an online query system for accessing HCUP data; the HCUP Data Use Agreement (DUA) system for obtaining restricted data; and software tools for analyzing and visualizing HCUP data.

Research and Publications: HCUP supports a wide range of research projects and publications in areas such as health services research, epidemiology, outcomes research, and healthcare policy analysis. Researchers use HCUP data to study trends in healthcare utilization, healthcare costs, patient outcomes, and disparities in healthcare delivery.

Policy and Decision Making: HCUP data are used by policymakers, healthcare administrators, insurers, and other stakeholders to inform healthcare policy decisions, assess the impact of healthcare reforms, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and identify areas for quality improvement.

Overall, HCUP plays a critical role in advancing our understanding of healthcare delivery and outcomes in the United States. Its comprehensive databases and resources provide researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals with valuable insights into the dynamics of the healthcare system and help support evidence-based decision making to improve patient care and population health.