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From: sean@dsl.pitt.edu (Sean McLinden)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: request for CPT, ICD-9, job, drug codes IF possible!
Keywords: request, CPT, ICD-9, occupational, PDR, ascii
Message-ID: <1991Feb6.144628.23291@dsl.pitt.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 91 14:46:28 GMT
References: <4621@lib.tmc.edu>
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Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.
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In article <4621@lib.tmc.edu> mitchell@thesis1.hsch.utexas.edu (Philip Mitchel) writes:
>Hello kind lady or gentleman...here I come with my electronic hat in
>hand, begging data.  First, let me tell you my sad story.  I'm building
>a patient database for research purposes, and need to track such things
>as occupation, medication, diagnosis, and procedures performed.  I know
>that lists of these things and associated codes exist 'out there'.  I
>have been steered toward CPT codes for procedures, ICD-9 codes for
>diagnoses, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for same, and the
>Physicians' Desk Reference for drugs.  My first question is:
>
>	Is the information in these lists copyrighted, or just the
>    books in which they appear?  
>
>This is an important legal question, because my next question is:
>
>	Can someone out there send me an ascii file of one or all of
>    these lists?
>
>Obviously, if the answer to the first question is 'the info ain't free',
>then the answer to the second is NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!  I quite
>agree, and will vehemently dispose of any ill-gotten data.  However, if
>the data itself is public domain (as I have been assured CPT codes are),
>then I would love to have copies of said info.  Enough.  If you have the
>electronic form and can in good conscience forward it, I would be most
>grateful.  MUST I BEG !!?!  Oh...all right.  Pleasepleaseplease!

Strictly speaking ICD-9-CM (you don't *really* want ICD-9) and CPT-4
are not in the public domain, but they can be used freely. You can
buy CPT-4 codes in electronic format from the AMA, and I am sure that
you can get ICD-9 from your university hospital since almost everyone
is required to submit certain discharge data electonically.

The Physician's Desk Reference is copyrighted. You can buy the information
on CD-ROM but you can't use it except for personal purposes, without
permission. You probably don't want it, anyway, since the United States
Pharmacopea numbers (USP) and such *can* be used, freely, and can be
gotten from the government. If you want electronic format you will most
likely have to pay for it from the National Technical Information Service
(NTIS) which manages the USG's databases. What you pay is a media,
distribution cost, not a royalty.

For Occupational Titles, you might want to try the Census Bureau, the
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, or the Health Care Finance
Administration to see what they use. Any information that they require
for coding of patient data is probably not restricted. The Social
Sercurity Administration and, of course, the Internal Revenue Service
are other likely sources of information.

If you find any of these and are free to distribute them, please let
me know as I am sure that others might find them useful.

Sean McLinden
Decision Systems Laboratory
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center