Recommended Actions to Improve External-Cause-of-Injury Coding in State-Based Hospital Discharge and Emergency Department Data Systems

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) are collaborating to provide national leadership to improve external-cause-of-injury-coded (E-coded) data collected in state administrative data systems. These data are used at the national, state, and local levels to identify high-risk populations, set priorities, and plan and evaluate injury prevention programs and policies, and are potentially useful for evaluating emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma care systems.

This report summarizes potential collaborative action steps for CDC and its partners to improve E-coding in state morbidity data systems, with implications for improving federal morbidity data systems, based on recommendations by participants of that February 2009 meeting.