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acuity category

acu_cat
clinical
Updated 5/16/2026

Definition

The grouping classification for a condition severity level. Used in healthcare data management and clinical workflows. This field is commonly used in electronic health records (EHR), healthcare information systems (HIS), and clinical data warehouses for acuity management and reporting.

Standard Abbreviation

acu_cat

Category

clinical

Database Usage

-- Example column naming
CREATE TABLE claims (
  clm_id VARCHAR(50),
  acu_cat VARCHAR(20),  -- acuity category (max 20 chars)
  ...
);

-- Example in SELECT
SELECT
  clm_id,
  acu_cat as acuity_category
FROM claims;

Common uses in healthcare data

  • Risk stratification and population health analytics
  • CMS-HCC risk adjustment and RAF score calculation
  • Quality measure attribution and HEDIS reporting
  • Clinical data warehouse schema design
  • Value-based care contract performance tracking

Example database column name

ISO-11179 snake_case standard

-- Recommended column name
acu_cat

-- Example DDL
CREATE TABLE healthcare_data (
  record_id   VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL,
  acu_cat      VARCHAR(20),  -- acuity category (max 20 chars)
  created_dt  TIMESTAMP     NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
);

Column names follow the ISO-11179 naming convention: lowercase, underscore-separated, using the standard abbreviation as a prefix where applicable.

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