Archived News
For each column within the table, click on the "+" to sort in ascending order; "-" to sort in descending order.
To ensure the protection of VA information, we have restricted access to certain files (denoted by the"lock" icon). Contact HERC to download these restricted files.
Date   
|
Title
|
Description
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/12/2007 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 7, Iss 2) is now available for download. | |
| 4/2/2007 |  | Guidebook Released | "Preference Measurement in Economic Analysis" is now available for download. | |
| 12/13/2006 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 6, Iss 3) is now available for download. | |
| 10/24/2006 | | Technical Report #18 Updated | "Fee Basis Data: A Guide for Researchers" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 10/20/2006 | | Guidebook Updated | "HERC’S Outpatient Average Cost Dataset for VA Care: Fiscal Year 2005" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 10/10/2006 |  | FAQ #I8 Updated | "How can I find pharmacy data in the VA health care system?" has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 10/10/2006 | | FAQ #I15 Released | "How can I collect cost data from non-VA providers?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 10/5/2006 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 6, Iss 2) is now available for download. | |
| 9/26/2006 | | New Health Economics Course | "Econometrics with observational data" course schedule is now available for viewing. | |
| 9/25/2006 | | Technical Report #20 Released | "A Guide to Identifying Non-Veteran Records in the Inpatient and Outpatient Databases" is now available for download. | |
| 9/25/2006 | | Employment Opportunity | RA position open. | |
| 9/22/2006 | | FAQ #I11 Updated | "What information is available on care provided to VA under contract?" has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 9/22/2006 | | FAQ #I10 Updated | "What Can I Do about Missing Data?" has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 9/22/2006 | | Technical Report #18 Updated | "Fee Basis Data: A Guide for Researchers" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 9/5/2006 | | Webpage Updated | "Fee Basis Files" has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 7/7/2006 | | Annual Report Released | "Report of the Health Economics Resource Center to the VA Cooperative Studies Program" is now available for download. | |
| 7/1/2006 | | Guidebook Updated | "HERC’s Average Cost Datasets for VA Inpatient Care 1998 - 2005" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 6/14/2006 | | Webpage Released | "Average Cost Data" is now available for viewing. | |
| 5/31/2006 | | HERC Tabulation Released | VHA Costs in the Cost Distribution Report FY 1993-2003 | |
| 5/30/2006 | | Guidebook Released | Researchers' Guide to the Account Level Budget Cost Centers (ALBCC) | |
| 5/6/2006 | | FAQ # D4 Released | "Where can I find the cost of pharmacy?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 3/20/2006 | | Technical Report #19 Released | Spending for VA Specialized Substance Use Treatment | |
| 2/21/2006 | | Guidebook Updated | Research Guide to Decision Support System National Cost Extracts 1998 - 2004 | |
| 12/15/2005 | | Technical Report #18 Released | Fee Basis Data: A Guide for Researchers | |
| 12/1/2005 | | Guidebook Updated | Micro-cost Methods for Determining VA Healthcare Costs, Revised 12/05 | |
| 11/30/2005 | | FAQ #I11 Updated | "What information is available on care provided to VA under contract?" updated 11/05, available for viewing. | |
| 9/12/2005 | | Guidebook Updated (DRAFT) | Research Guide to Decision Support System National Cost Extracts 1998 - 2004. | |
| 9/7/2005 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 5, Iss 2) is now available for download. | |
| 9/1/2005 | | VA Cost Methods Page Updated | ||
| 8/26/2005 | | FAQ # I12 Updated | "How can I estimate Medicare payments for an inpatient short-stay acute hospitalization?" has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 8/23/2005 | | Bibliography of VA Cost Studies Page Updated | The bibliography consists of more than 100 items published over the last 25 years, and represents a unique collection of literature on determining VA healthcare cost. | |
| 8/23/2005 | | HERC Relaunches its Website | In addition to newly updated content, such as guidebooks for the HERC average cost data, the new website includes several new features: - abstracts and downloadable full text for investigators' journal articles - abstracts for investigator-led research projects - recent news, upcoming presentations, and a "Did You Know?" column, all accessible from the home page. | |
| 8/10/2005 | | Guidebook Updated | "HERC’s Average Cost Datasets for VA Inpatient Care 1998 - 2004" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 5/3/2005 | | Technical Report # 17 Released | "Dialysis Treatment Use and Costs Reported in VA Administrative Databases" is now available for download. | |
| 2/1/2005 | | Technical Report # 16 Released | "Guidebook for the HERC Person Level Cost Data Sets" is now available for download. | |
| 1/20/2005 | | Guidebook Released | Researchers' Guide to the DSS Monthly Program Cost Report (MPCR) | |
| 11/18/2004 | | Technical Report # 15 Released | "The Effects on Measured Workload and Costs of Limiting CPT Codes in the NPCD SE File" is now available for download. | |
| 5/25/2004 | | Guidebook Released | "HERC Outpatient Average Cost Dataset User Guide: Fiscal Years 2000-2003" is now available for download. | |
| 5/1/2004 | | Technical Report # 13 Released | "Comparison Between DSS National Data Extracts and HERC Average Costs: Aggregate and Person-Level Costs, FY2001" is now available for download. | |
| 4/1/2004 | | Errors Found within HERC Average Cost Inpatient Datasets | HERC has found two errors in the HERC average cost inpatient datasets. Error 1: Missing medical/surgical cases in the MED/SURG database Some people had medical surgical care and then were transferred to a non medical/surgical bedsection, where they remained through the end of the fiscal year. These medical/surgical cases were accidentally excluded from the MED/SURG database. We are going back to the Census data to extract these records. This affects fewer than 1000 (0.1%) cases out of almost 700,000 hospitalizations per year. This affects the MED/SURG files for 1998-2002. We are now rebuilding those files to include these cases. It does not affect the DISCHARGE dataset. Error 2: SAS error in compiling DISCHARGE dataset This error only affects non-medical surgical cases when the stay crossed fiscal years. This error is only present for the FY99-FY02 HERC discharge files. The error resulted in the exclusion of some costs. For the affected cases, the costs are lower than they should be. We are in the process of fixing the HERC average cost data and will post the new files on Austin. This error does not affect medical-surgical care, non-medical-surgical cases that were admitted and discharged in the fiscal year, or any record in the FY98 discharge file. Fixing the errors involved approximately 30,000 cases per fiscal year (~4% of the cases). We have uploaded new HERC datasets to Austin. We renamed the previous files as RMTPRD.HERC.SAS.OLD.filename. We did this so that you can, if you wish, compare the original and the corrected cost estimates. | |
| 2/1/2004 | | Technical Report # 10 Released | "A Comparison for Inpatient Costs from the HERC and DSS National Data Extract Datasets" is now available for download. | |
| 6/19/2003 | | HERC Presents its Health Economics Course for 2003 | HERC's 2003 schedule for its teleconference/web course in health economics is now available for viewing. | |
| 5/20/2003 | | FAQ # I13 Released | "How can I use the VA fee basis files to find the cost of health care provided by private providers under contract with VA?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 5/1/2003 | | FAQ # B3 Released | "How can I find the costs of a specific facility, or a specific department?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 5/1/2003 | | FAQ # B2 Released | "What data are available on VA costs?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 4/25/2003 | | Technical Report # 7 Released | "Recommendations for a New Allocation System for 101 Funds" is now available for download. | |
| 4/23/2003 | | Technical Report # 6 Released | "Indirect Costs of Specialized VA Inpatient Mental Health Treatment" is now available for download. | |
| 4/23/2003 | | Technical Report # 5 Released | "Cost of Positron Emission Tomography: Method for Determining Indirect Cost" is now available for download. | |
| 4/23/2003 | | Guidebook Updated | "Micro-cost Methods for Determining VA Healthcare Costs" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 4/14/2003 | | FAQ # I12 Released | "How do I calculate Medicare reimbursement for an acute hospitalization?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 4/10/2003 | | FAQ # F7 Released | "How do you categorize the CDR into the 11 inpatient cost accounts?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 4/10/2003 | | FAQ # F1 Released | "What are the average daily costs of VA inpatient care?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 3/20/2003 | | Webpage Released | "Average Cost Method Updates" is now available for viewing. | |
| 3/19/2003 | | Guidebook Updated | "HERC’s Outpatient Average Cost Dataset for VA Care: Fiscal Years 1998-2001" has been updated and is now available for download. The following variable names are listed incorrectly in the previous versions HERC payment value Incorrect: NCHRG Correct: PAYMHERC Provider component of HERC payment value Incorrect: RVUCOST Correct: PAYMPROV Facility component of HERC payment value Incorrect: APCCOST Correct: PAYMFACL | |
| 3/17/2003 | | FAQ # F10 Released | "How do I find the HERC cost of outpatient visits by cohort of patients?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 3/13/2003 | | FAQ # H2 Released | "How do I estimate travel costs?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 3/6/2003 | | FAQ # F9 Released | "Why does HERC Length of Stay (LOS) differ from PTF main LOS in some cases?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 2/7/2003 | | FAQ # J4 Released | "Will HERC write a letter in support of my grant proposal or career development award application?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 1/3/2003 | | Fee Basis Files Page Updated | ||
| 1/2/2003 | | FAQ # G7 Released | "How do I use production DSS data?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 1/2/2003 | | FAQ # G5 Released | "What DSS data are shown to be valid?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 1/2/2003 | | FAQ # G4 Released | "How does the utilization reported in the DSS National Data Extracts (NDEs) compare to other VA databases?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 1/2/2003 | | FAQ # G6 Released | "How do I use the National Data Extracts of DSS?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 1/2/2003 | | FAQ # G1 Released | "What data are available in the DSS national cost extracts?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 12/31/2002 | | Glossary Updated | ||
| 11/26/2002 | | Announcement | HERC will offer a series of health economics courses in 2003. | |
| 11/22/2002 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 2, Iss 2) is now available for download. | |
| 11/12/2002 | | Research Projects Page Updated | Fiscal Year 2002 research project list has been updated and is now available for viewing. | |
| 10/21/2002 | | Technical Report # 4 Released | "Reconciliation of DSS Encounter-Level National Data Extracts with the VA National Patient Care Database Fiscal Year 2001" is now available for download. | |
| 8/28/2002 | | Guidebook Released | "HERC’S Inpatient Average Cost Datasets for VA Care Version 3: Fiscal Years 1998-2001" is now available for download. | |
| 8/23/2002 | | FAQ # F6 Released | "How do I measure quality adjusted life years?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 8/6/2002 | | Bulletin Released | The HERC Bulletin (Vol 2, Iss 1) is now available for download. | |
| 8/2/2002 | | FAQ # I11 Release | "What information is available on care provided to VA under contract?" is now available for download. | |
| 8/2/2002 | | FAQ # D1 Release | "What is the cost of physician services for inpatients?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 8/2/2002 | | Tabulations Page Updated | HERC has made changes to the inpatient discharge dataset. | |
| 8/1/2002 | | Guidebook Updated | "HERC's Inpatient Average Cost Dataset User Guide: Fiscal Years 1998-2003" has been updated and is now available for download. | |
| 8/1/2002 | | Guidebook Released | "Micro-cost Methods for Determining VA Healthcare Costs" is now available for download. | |
| 8/1/2002 | | Inpatient Discharge Dataset Updated | HERC made some changes to the HERC average cost INPATIENT DISCHARGE dataset. These changes were made to the FY98-00 data, and they will be maintained for FY01 and onwards. In the past, the HERC average cost included a local and national total cost. The new discharge dataset includes additional variables that track cost subtotals, length of stay subtotals, DRG weight, and ICU days. The format and variables of earlier discharge datasets have been preserved. Therefore, code for analyzing older datasets should work with the new version. Subtotals are based on the following categories of care (0) Acute medicine/surgery, (1) Rehabilitation, (2) Blind rehabilitation, (3) Spinal cord injury rehabilitation, (4) Does not exist (this was surgery, but it has been combined with medicine to form category 0) (5) Psychiatry, (6) Substance abuse care, (7) Intermediate medicine, (8) Domiciliary, (9) Nursing home care, and (10) Psychosocial residential rehabilitation programs (PRRTP). New variables COSTL_0 -COSTL_10: local cost estimates for categories of care 0 -10 COSTN_0-COSTN_10: national cost estimates for categories of care 0 -1 LOS_0 -LOS_10: length of stay estimates for categories of care 0 -10 DRGWT: the diagnosis related group (DRG) weight. In cases where a stay was assigned more than one DRG weight, the corresponding observation only records the maximum DRG weight ICUDAYS: number of days in an intensive care unit The implication for this change is that you will be able to look at different cost components for a single discharge. For example, if a researcher is interested in mental health costs, he/she can now identify the mental health costs for every inpatient encounter. This is particularly helpful for those patients who receive care in many different categories during a stay. Again, note that these changes only pertain to the inpatient discharge datasets. | |
| 7/17/2002 | | FAQ # I10 Released | What Can I Do about Missing Data?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 7/2/2002 | | Technical Report #2 Released | "Human Subjects Compliance Programs: Optimal Operating Costs in VA" is now available for download. | |
| 7/1/2002 | | FAQ # H4 Released | "How do I obtain the cost of acute hospital care from AHRQ web site?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 6/6/2002 | | VA Cost Data Page Updated | Updates include new links to information on file names. | |
| 5/30/2002 | | Non-HERC Guidebook Released | "VA Databases Resource Guide (Blue Books) Volume IV (Full Version)" is now available for download. | |
| 5/14/2002 | | FAQ # F5 Released | "How can I use SAS to extract utilization data from PTF to find cost of VA rehabilitation and long-term care units?" is now available for viewing. | |
| 5/14/2002 | | FAQ # G8 Released | "How do I write a tool kit report to extract data from the DSS production system?" is now available for viewing. | |
Author: Vilija Joyce, MS
Reviewed/Updated Date: January 9, 2008