Preprocessing the data -- Errors and missing values in the dataset -- Introduction to the use of MEPS (medical expenditure panel survey) -- Preprocessing Medpar data -- Extracting data from the national inpatient sample -- Creating a one-to-one relationship in the data from a many-to-many -- Merging different datasets to allow for a complete analysis (inpatient, outpatient, physician visits, medications) -- Introduction to analysis using time components -- More survival data mining-multiple time of endpoints -- Using the data to define patient compliance -- Compression of diagnosis and procedure codes -- Comparisons of patient severity indices -- Decision trees and their development -- Example of diabetes using CMS data -- Example of breathing illnesses, asthma and COPD using MEPS data -- Example of wound care using Medpar data -- Discussion.