Procedures

Medical procedures for service members were collected as part of the medical encounter data (see the Data Collected Encounter page). These data come from the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS) database run by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division (AFHSD). Procedures are obtained from inpatient and outpatient files, which cover medical encounters. Procedure codes were not recorded for Theater Medical Data System (TMDS) claims. For the inpatient medical encounters, the procedures were recorded using ICD-9 or ICD-10 procedure codes. For the outpatient claims, the procedures were recorded using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes and Medical Expense and Performance Reporting System (MEPRS) codes.

Summary

• There are 112,889,245 total procedure codes for MACS personnel
• 752,067 (84%) of service members have 1+ procedure code
• Procedure codes are linked with medical claims and ICD diagnosis codes
• Inpatient procedure codes begin in 1990
• Outpatient procedure codes begin in 1996

Variables

• Inpatient: ICD-9/ICD-10-CM codes
• Outpatient: CPT and MEPRS codes