The Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) for ICD-9-CM is one in a family of databases and software tools developed as part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), a Federal-State-Industry partnership sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. HCUP databases, tools, and software inform decision making at the national, State, and community levels.

Contents:

• Overview of CCS
• Technical Advice
• Publications Using CCS
• For More Information About CCS
• Downloading Information for CCS Software and User's Guide
• Questions?

The Clinical Classifications Software (CCS) for ICD-9-CM is a diagnosis and procedure categorization scheme that can be employed in many types of projects analyzing data on diagnoses and procedures. CCS is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), a uniform and standardized coding system. The ICD-9-CM's multitude of codes - over 12,000 diagnosis codes and 3,500 procedure codes - are collapsed into a smaller number of clinically meaningful categories that are sometimes more useful for presenting descriptive statistics than are individual ICD-9-CM codes.

For example, CCS can be used to identify populations for disease- or procedure-specific studies or to develop statistical reports providing information (such as charges and length of stay) about relatively specific conditions. CCS was formerly called the Clinical Classifications for Health Policy Research (CCHPR).

For more information on the CCS, select to access the CCS Fact Sheet.

For downloading information, select to access the CCS Software and User's guide (which can be viewed in Portable Document Format).

This documentation contains:

• A brief description of the CCS categorization scheme
• Electronic files in ASCII format containing the translation of ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes into CCS categories.

The CCS documentation describes the electronic translation files, provides warnings about ICD-9-CM coding changes over time, and summarizes how to use the files.

For examples of how CCS has been used, see the following publications:

Care of Women in U.S. Hospitals, 2000. Women accounted for approximately 60 percent of all adult hospital stays during 2000. This report provides an overview of hospital care for women and compares hospital stays for women and men. It also includes a special section on obstetric care in hospitals.

Hospitalization in the United States, 1997. Hospital care is the most expensive component of the health care dollar. This Fact Book provides an overview of inpatient hospital care and provides national estimates regarding a number of factors, including reasons for admission, charges and lengths of stay, expected sources of payment, and inpatient mortality. This report also examines patient populations and provides statistics based on patient age and gender.

Procedures in U.S. Hospitals, 1997. In 1997, Americans had more than 35 million hospital stays; during most of these hospitalizations, patients underwent an invasive or noninvasive diagnostic or therapeutic intervention. This report identifies procedures that are performed most commonly during hospitalization, those that are associated with the highest charges, and those that result in the longest lengths of stay. In addition to providing estimates for the total inpatient population, the report also examines select subpopulations that are defined by age and gender.

CCS categories are also used in HCUPnet, an online resource for national hospital stays.

Send questions or comments to: hcup@ahrq.gov.

Shift-click from this Web page: Your browser may support loading the files for CCS and the Software and User's Guide from this Web page. To download the files from this Web page, click on the following links with the right mouse button and select "Save Link As" (Netscape) or "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer). After saving a file, find the file by using Windows® Explorer (Windows® 98/95/NT) or File Manager (Windows® 3.x) and then open it by double-clicking on it.

CCS Information

     CCS 2004 (ICD-9-CM) Software and User's Guide (PDF file, 55 KB)
     Appendices A-D: Single- and Multi-level Diagnoses and Procedures (Zipped file, 211 KB).
     CCS Category Names (Full Labels) (PDF file, 248 KB).

CCS Program Files (Use to map ICD codes into CCS categories)

     Single Level CCS (Zipped file, 185 KB).
     Multi-Level CCS (Zipped file, 119 KB).

Questions regarding the CCS may be directed to HCUP User Support through the following channels:

• e-mail: hcup@ahrq.gov
• Phone (toll free): 1-866-290-HCUP.