Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) metadata
Overview
The Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) was launched in 1994–1995. The HMDB is a national data holding that captures administrative, clinical and demographic information on inpatient separations from acute care hospitals. The HMDB also
- Contains pan-Canadian acute care data
- Contains Quebec day surgery data as of 2012–2013
- Provides national discharge statistics from Canadian health care institutions by diagnoses and procedures
Find out more about acute inpatient care, including reports and analyses based on HMDB data.
Learn more about hospital stays in Canada with data tables that include the top reasons for hospitalizations and surgeries, information on in-hospital births, and standardized hospitalization rates and average lengths of stay.
Data source
Discharge data is received from acute care facilities across Canada and day surgery facilities in Quebec.
The majority of records in the HMDB are from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD).
The DAD receives data directly from acute care facilities or from their respective health/regional authority or ministry/department of health. Facilities in all provinces and territories except Quebec are required to report.
Data from Quebec is submitted to ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨directly by the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec. This data is appended to the DAD to create the HMDB. Please note that Quebec day surgery records are part of the HMDB population as of 2012–2013.
Data coverage
The HMDB captures national administrative, clinical and demographic information on hospital inpatient events. As of 2012–2013, Quebec day surgery information is included in the HMDB.
Note: Discharge data on psychiatric facilities, day procedures (such as day surgery in all provinces and territories except Quebec) and emergency department visits is not captured in this database.
Data availability
Data from 1994–1995 to 2022–2023 is available on request.
- Most recent year: 2022–2023 (October 2023)
- Next release: 2023–2024 (October 2024)
- Historical series: 1994–1995 to 2022–2023
- Archive: 1960–1961 to 1993–1994
For data from 1994–1995 to 2022–2023, please complete a data request form.
Classification
For HMDB data sourced from the DAD, the following applies.
As early as 2001–2002, some provinces and territories began using ICD-10-CA and CCI to code diagnoses and interventions in hospital separations reported to the DAD.
As of 2004–2005, all DAD records have been reported in ICD-10-CA and CCI; prior to that, ICD-9, CCP and ICD-9-CM were used.
As of 2006–2007, Quebec began using ICD-10-CA and CCI to code diagnoses and interventions; prior to that, Quebec data was coded using ICD-9, CCP and ICD-9-CM.
ICD-10-CA and CCI Documents
Historical documents
Documents from 2001 to 2009 are available on request.
- Conversions to ICD-9, ICD-9-CM and CCP
Data elements
For hospital inpatient discharges, the HMDB contains
- Administrative data elements (such as admission and discharge dates)
- Clinical data elements (such as most responsible diagnosis)
- Demographic data elements (such as patient age)
Data quality
ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨ensures that the quality of the information in our data holdings is suited to its intended uses and that data users are provided with accurate information about data quality. Read more about our Data and Information Quality Program.
Below are links to data quality documents for data from 2015–2016 to 2022–2023.
- Current-Year Information, 2022–2023 (PDF)
- 2021–2022 (PDF)
- 2020–2021 (PDF)
- 2019–2020&²Ô²ú²õ±è;(±Ê¶Ù¹ó)
- 2018–2019 (PDF)
- 2017–2018 (PDF)
- 2016–2017 (PDF)
- 2015–2016 (PDF)
Privacy impact assessment
Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) evaluate and address the privacy impacts of programs and systems.
Go to the Privacy and security page to view the PIA, which contains further information about the purposes, data elements and data sources for this data holding.
Contact us
For further information, please email
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨ Information. Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) metadata. Accessed December 21, 2024.
If you would like ºìÁì½í¹Ï±¨information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.