What is the difference between “Persons” and “Admissions” in the Hospital Admissions file?
The “Persons” selection gives the number of different individuals admitted for a particular diagnosis. Individuals are counted only once when they are admitted for the same 3-digit ICD-9 diagnosis code. That is, if an individual is admitted two or more times with different diagnoses, that person will be counted each time, but repeated admissions of the same person for the same diagnosis will be counted only once. “Admissions”, on the other hand, count all inpatient admissions, even when the same person is admitted repeatedly for the same diagnosis.
