Matching Known Patients to Health Records in Washington State Data

Understand

The State of Washington sells patient-level health data for $50.

• This publicly available dataset has virtually all hospitalizations occurring in the State in a given year, including patient demographics, diagnoses, procedures, attending physician, hospital, a summary of charges, and how the bill was paid.
• It does not contain patient names or addresses (only ZIPs).
• Newspaper stories printed in the State for the same year that contain the word "hospitalized" often include a patient's name and residential information and explain why the person was hospitalized, such as vehicle accident or assault.