Hospital Inpatient Discharge Data, 20201216 Phone: 512-776-7261 | E-mail: thcichelp@dshs.texas.gov
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Data Use Agreement
Hospital Inpatient Discharge Public Use Data File
Sections 108.013(c)(1) and (2) and 108.013 (g) of the Texas Health and Safety Code (THSC) prohibit the Texas
Department of State Health Services (DSHS) from releasing, and a person or entity from gaining access to, any data
that could reveal the identity of a patient or the identity of a physician unless specially authorized under Chapter 108
of THSC.
Any effort to determine the identity of any person or to use the information for any purpose other than for analysis
and aggregate statistical reporting violates the THSC and this data use agreement. By virtue of this agreement, the
undersigned agrees that the data will not be used to identify an individual patient or physician.
Any questions about the data must be referred to the DSHS manager in charge of implementing Chapter 108 of THSC.
Product support is not provided by DSHS.
The data are protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
In this data use agreement, the requestor of the data is referred to as the “licensee, ” and can be any organization,
employee of an organization, consumer or data purchaser that is responsible for complying with the following
requirements:
By initialing each item, the licensee gives the following assurances with respect to the use of Texas Inpatient
Discharge Data sets:
The licensee acknowledges the data is limited to the organization’s physical location (specified below)
unless purchasing a multiple organizational license;
The licensee will not release nor permit others to release the individual patient records or any part of
them to any person who is not a staff member of the organization (specified below), except with the written
approval of DSHS;
The licensee will not attempt to link nor permit others to attempt to link the inpatient records of patients
in this data set with personally identifiable records from any other source;
The licensee will not release nor permit others to release any information that identifies persons, directly
or indirectly;
The licensee will not attempt to use nor permit others to use the data to learn the identity of any
physician;
The licensee will not nor permit others to copy, sell, rent, license, lease, loan, or otherwise grant access to
the data covered by this Agreement to any other person or entity, unless approved in writing by DSHS;
The licensee acknowledges that when releasing or disclosing the data set or any part to others in their
organization they will retain full responsibility for the privacy and security of the data and will prohibit others
from further release or disclosure of the data;
The licensee agrees to read the User Manual and understand the limitations of the data (User Manual
located at: www.dshs.texas.gov/thcic);
The licensee will periodically check the DSHS/CHS/THCIC website for any technical updates to the data
(www.dshs.texas.gov/thcic);
The licensee will use the following citation in any publication of information from this file as: Texas
Hospital Inpatient Discharge Public Use Data File, [quarter and year of data]. Texas Department of State
Health Services, Austin, Texas. [date of publication];
The licensee will indemnify, defend and hold the DSHS, its members, employees, and its contract vendors
harmless from any and all claims and losses accruing to any person as a result of violation of this agreement;
and
The licensee will make no statement nor permit others to make statements indicating or suggesting that
interpretations drawn from these data are those of DSHS.