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What Is a Uniform Data Number?

Health care providers who receive federal or state grants to provide care to under-served or vulnerable groups, such as public housing residents and the homeless, are required to submit uniform data numbers to the government by the end of the first quarter each year. The numbers are compiled to create the Uniform Data System that tracks information, statistics and trends in patient demographics, health care staffing, services provided, clinical indicators, utilization rates, expenses and revenue.

  1. Uniform Data Numbers

    • Approximately 1,200 health care providers at more than 8,000 locations received grants in 2010 for providing health services to patients below the poverty level, uninsured patients, homeless people, migrant workers and residents of public housing. These providers had 77 million patient visits, served 19.5 million patients overall and employed more than 130,000 people, including almost 10,000 physicians. These statistics were compiled from the uniform data numbers that each provider submitted prior to March 31, 2011.

    Uniform Data System

    • The Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, receives and compiles the numbers that make up the Uniform Data System. Individual health care providers supply uniform data numbers such as patient counts by age, gender, ethnicity, income level and insurance coverage; staff counts by position, provider type and service; counts and details of primary diagnoses; and direct and indirect expenses and revenue. The system aggregates the data on a national basis and creates state-specific statistics. The statistics are are used to decide how grant money should be allocated to individual healthcare providers based on patient demographics, demand for services and utilization rates.

    Trends

    • HRSA uses the statistics compiled from uniform data numbers to help ensure that the programs covered by these federal and state grants are designed and delivered to improve the health of under-served and at-risk populations. Uniform data numbers help identify trends in healthcare demand and delivery such as the kinds of healthcare services provided to patients, the most common treatments and even patient satisfaction. Statistics for this population segment are compared to the U.S. population that does not rely on government grants to receive healthcare services.

    Compare Outcomes

    • Uniform data numbers also enable health care providers to document patient diagnoses, treatments and ideally results in a uniform way. This begins to establish a common language for the healthcare services provided to this segment of the population. It also helps create a basis for comparing diagnoses with clinical indicators and diagnosis outcomes with prescribed treatments.

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