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The release of the annual survey is generally out in November of the following year, so it is almost 2 years behind. Many hospitals have undergone changes by the time the survey is made public. For instance, the release of calendar year 2013 hospital data is scheduled to be made public in November of 2014 (a year and 10 months after the start_date of the data set)
The AHA survey contains self-reported survey responses submitted by the hospital that are unaudited by a third party.