acuity key

acu_key

clinical

Updated 5/16/2026

Definition

The lookup reference value 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_key

Database Usage

-- Example column naming
CREATE TABLE claims (
  clm_id VARCHAR(50),
  acu_key VARCHAR(50),  -- acuity key (max 50 chars)
  ...
);

-- Example in SELECT
SELECT
  clm_id,
  acu_key as acuity_key
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_key

-- Example DDL
CREATE TABLE healthcare_data (
  record_id   VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL,
  acu_key      VARCHAR(50),  -- acuity key (max 50 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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