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Release Notes:
Data Element
Version 2010B1

Data Element Name: Sample Size – Medicare Only
Collected For: HBIPS, PC, Transmission, Patient Population Data File , Used in transmission of the Hospital Initial Patient Population Data file.

Note:
For more information refer to the Population and Sampling Specifications section and Hospital Initial Patient Population Data XML File Layout in the Transmission section of this manual.
Definition:Indicates the number of episode of care (EOC) records identified for a hospital with Medicare listed as a payment source for a hospital to perform data abstraction on. This count is after the appropriate sampling methodology, if any, has been applied for the specific time period.

Notes for discharge measures (eg. HBIPS-1, 4, PC-01):

  • If the hospital is sampling the discharge measures, then the Sample Size – Medicare Only should be equal or less than the Initial Patient Population Size – Medicare Only for the set, stratum, or sub-population.
  • If the hospital is not sampling the discharge measures, then the Sample Size – Medicare Only will equal the Initial Patient Population Size – Medicare Only for the set, stratum, or sub-population.

Notes for HBIPS event measures (HBIPS-2 and 3):

  • Hospitals may not sample the HBIPS event measures. For these two measures, the Sample Size – Medicare Only equals the Initial Patient Population Size – Medicare Only for the set, stratum, or sub-population.
Suggested Data Collection Question:Not Applicable
Format:
Length:6
Type:Numeric
Occurs:
Non-stratified Measure Sets:

One Sample Size – Medicare Only per hospital’s measure set (e.g., AMI, HF, PN, and STK).

Stratified Measure Sets:

One Sample Size – Medicare Only per measure set stratum or sub-population the hospital is participating in:
* The PC measure set has three occurrences, one for the mother sub-population and two for the newborn sub-populations.
* The HBIPS measure set has four occurrences, one for each age stratum.

Note:
Refer to the appropriate version of the Specifications Manual for National Quality Inpatient Measures for the number of occurrences for the CAC, VTE, and SCIP measure sets.
Allowable Values:

0 through 999,999

Notes for Abstraction:For Discharge measures (eg. HBIPS-1,PC-01), when Sampling Frequency = ‘N/A’ because the hospital has five or fewer discharges (both Medicare and non-Medicare combined) in a quarter and has decided to not submit patient level data, Sample Size – Medicare Only should equal zero.
Suggested Data Sources:

Not Applicable

Additional Notes:
Guidelines for Abstraction:
Inclusion Exclusion
None None

Sample Size – Medicare Only
Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Measures (v2010B1)
Discharges 10-01-10 (4Q10) through 03-31-11 (1Q11)