Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211037171
Georgina Lau, Belinda J Gabbe, Biswadev Mitra, Paul M Dietze, Sandra Braaf, Ben Beck
Background: Alcohol use is a key preventable risk factor for serious injury. To effectively prevent alcohol-related injuries, we rely on the accurate surveillance of alcohol involvement in injury events. This often involves the use of administrative data, such as International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) coding.
Objective: To evaluate the completeness and accuracy of using administrative coding for the surveillance of alcohol involvement in major trauma injury events by comparing patient blood alcohol concentration (BAC) with ICD-10-AM coding.
Method: This retrospective cohort study examined 2918 injury patients aged ≥18 years who presented to a major trauma centre in Victoria, Australia, over a 2-year period, of which 78% (n = 2286) had BAC data available.
Results: While 15% of patients had a non-zero BAC, only 4% had an ICD-10-AM code suggesting acute alcohol involvement. The agreement between blood alcohol test results and ICD-10-AM coding of acute alcohol involvement was fair (κ = 0.33, 95% confidence interval: 0.27-0.38). Of the 341 patients with a non-zero BAC, 82 (24.0%) had ICD-10-AM codes related to acute alcohol involvement. Supplementary factors Y90 Evidence of alcohol involvement determined by blood alcohol level codes, which specifically describe patient BAC, were assigned to just 29% of eligible patients with a non-zero BAC.
Conclusion: ICD-10-AM coding underestimated the proportion of alcohol-related injuries compared to patient BAC.
Implications: Given the current role of administrative data in the surveillance of alcohol-related injuries, these findings may have significant implications for the implementation of cost-effective strategies for preventing alcohol-related injuries.
{"title":"Comparison of routine blood alcohol tests and ICD-10-AM coding of alcohol involvement for major trauma patients.","authors":"Georgina Lau, Belinda J Gabbe, Biswadev Mitra, Paul M Dietze, Sandra Braaf, Ben Beck","doi":"10.1177/18333583211037171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211037171","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Alcohol use is a key preventable risk factor for serious injury. To effectively prevent alcohol-related injuries, we rely on the accurate surveillance of alcohol involvement in injury events. This often involves the use of administrative data, such as International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) coding.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To evaluate the completeness and accuracy of using administrative coding for the surveillance of alcohol involvement in major trauma injury events by comparing patient blood alcohol concentration (BAC) with ICD-10-AM coding.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This retrospective cohort study examined 2918 injury patients aged ≥18 years who presented to a major trauma centre in Victoria, Australia, over a 2-year period, of which 78% (<i>n</i> = 2286) had BAC data available.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>While 15% of patients had a non-zero BAC, only 4% had an ICD-10-AM code suggesting acute alcohol involvement. The agreement between blood alcohol test results and ICD-10-AM coding of acute alcohol involvement was fair (<i>κ</i> = 0.33, 95% confidence interval: 0.27-0.38). Of the 341 patients with a non-zero BAC, 82 (24.0%) had ICD-10-AM codes related to acute alcohol involvement. Supplementary factors Y90 Evidence of alcohol involvement determined by blood alcohol level codes, which specifically describe patient BAC, were assigned to just 29% of eligible patients with a non-zero BAC.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>ICD-10-AM coding underestimated the proportion of alcohol-related injuries compared to patient BAC.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>Given the current role of administrative data in the surveillance of alcohol-related injuries, these findings may have significant implications for the implementation of cost-effective strategies for preventing alcohol-related injuries.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"112-118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9418684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211054161
João Vasco Santos, Filipa Santos Martins, Fernando Lopes, Júlio Souza, Alberto Freitas
Dear Editor, Health administrative data, as found in hospital morbidity datasets are valuable data sources that inform epidemiological studies such as the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators, 2020), and can be used to achieve many aims in relation to health services research and management. Furthermore, Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) systems rely on administrative data, namely diagnosis/procedure codes, age, sex, and discharge destination (Averill et al., 2003) and in many countries are used for hospital reimbursement purposes (Geissler et al., 2011; Mathauer and Wittenbecher, 2013). In this context, the quality of health records, which constitutes the basis for the construction of administrative datasets through clinical coding (Alonso et al., 2020), is paramount. Clinical coding quality issues have been widely discussed (Cheng et al., 2009; Dafny, 2005; O’Malley et al., 2005; Pongpirul and Robinson, 2013; Southern et al., 2015), but little attention has been paid to issues associated with some administrative variables, such as discharge destination, despite their potential impact on the financial reimbursements received by hospitals, as previously mentioned in the case of Medicare (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2018). Presented in this letter is our analysis of the quality of this variable, which is essential for DRG grouping and can also be reused for many other purposes. Discharge destination, as a variable, is currently categorised according to standard codes, using information abstracted from hospital documentation. We assessed 2016 data from the Portuguese Hospital Morbidity Database (HMD), which includes administrative data collected from all mainland public and public–private partnership hospitals (62 institutions). These data, described as hospital discharges, were compared to referrals to long-term and palliative care as recorded in the National Network for Long-Term Care (Rede Nacional de Cuidados Continuados Integrados – RNCCI) dataset. RNCCI data are obtained from GestCare, an information system that is used to record all RNCCI-related procedures, including referral. RNCCI data, as accessed through the Portuguese National Health Service Transparency Portal (Ministry of Health, 2016), will be therefore mentioned as referrals. As more than 90% of the referrals originate from hospitals (ACSS, 2017), data from the HMD should correspond with this data source. We focused on the quality of data related to hospital referral for long-term and palliative care, which in Portugal is overseen by the RNCCI (D.R., 2006; Lopes et al., 2018). From the variable ‘discharge destination’, discharges to long-term and palliative care categories were chosen due to data availability, as these were the only data categories that have a secondary information source, with which comparisons can be made. We selected HMD categories ‘63 –Discharge to long-term inpatient care’ and ‘51 – Discharge to Palliative Care
{"title":"Discharge status of the patient: evaluating hospital data quality with a focus on long-term and palliative care patient data.","authors":"João Vasco Santos, Filipa Santos Martins, Fernando Lopes, Júlio Souza, Alberto Freitas","doi":"10.1177/18333583211054161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211054161","url":null,"abstract":"Dear Editor, Health administrative data, as found in hospital morbidity datasets are valuable data sources that inform epidemiological studies such as the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators, 2020), and can be used to achieve many aims in relation to health services research and management. Furthermore, Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) systems rely on administrative data, namely diagnosis/procedure codes, age, sex, and discharge destination (Averill et al., 2003) and in many countries are used for hospital reimbursement purposes (Geissler et al., 2011; Mathauer and Wittenbecher, 2013). In this context, the quality of health records, which constitutes the basis for the construction of administrative datasets through clinical coding (Alonso et al., 2020), is paramount. Clinical coding quality issues have been widely discussed (Cheng et al., 2009; Dafny, 2005; O’Malley et al., 2005; Pongpirul and Robinson, 2013; Southern et al., 2015), but little attention has been paid to issues associated with some administrative variables, such as discharge destination, despite their potential impact on the financial reimbursements received by hospitals, as previously mentioned in the case of Medicare (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2018). Presented in this letter is our analysis of the quality of this variable, which is essential for DRG grouping and can also be reused for many other purposes. Discharge destination, as a variable, is currently categorised according to standard codes, using information abstracted from hospital documentation. We assessed 2016 data from the Portuguese Hospital Morbidity Database (HMD), which includes administrative data collected from all mainland public and public–private partnership hospitals (62 institutions). These data, described as hospital discharges, were compared to referrals to long-term and palliative care as recorded in the National Network for Long-Term Care (Rede Nacional de Cuidados Continuados Integrados – RNCCI) dataset. RNCCI data are obtained from GestCare, an information system that is used to record all RNCCI-related procedures, including referral. RNCCI data, as accessed through the Portuguese National Health Service Transparency Portal (Ministry of Health, 2016), will be therefore mentioned as referrals. As more than 90% of the referrals originate from hospitals (ACSS, 2017), data from the HMD should correspond with this data source. We focused on the quality of data related to hospital referral for long-term and palliative care, which in Portugal is overseen by the RNCCI (D.R., 2006; Lopes et al., 2018). From the variable ‘discharge destination’, discharges to long-term and palliative care categories were chosen due to data availability, as these were the only data categories that have a secondary information source, with which comparisons can be made. We selected HMD categories ‘63 –Discharge to long-term inpatient care’ and ‘51 – Discharge to Palliative Care","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"125-127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9418694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211038633
Cathy A Eastwood, Danielle A Southern, Chelsea Doktorchik, Shahreen Khair, Denise Cullen, Alicia Boxill, Malgorzata Maciszewski, Lucia Otero Varela, William Ghali, Lori Moskal, Hude Quan
Background: The new International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics (ICD-11) was developed and released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2018. Because ICD-11 incorporates new codes and features, training materials for coding with ICD-11 are urgently needed prior to its implementation.
Objective: This study outlines the development of ICD-11 training materials, training processes and experiences of clinical coders while learning to code using ICD-11.
Method: Six certified clinical coders were recruited to code inpatient charts using ICD-11. Training materials were developed with input from experts from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the WHO, and the clinical coders were trained to use the new classification. Monthly team meetings were conducted to enable discussions on coding issues and to select the correct ICD-11 codes. The training experience was evaluated using qualitative interviews, a questionnaire and a coding quiz.
Results: total of 3011 charts were coded using ICD-11. In general, clinical coders provided positive feedback regarding the training program. The average score for the coding quiz (multiple choice, True/False) was 84%, suggesting that the training program was effective. Feedback from the coders enabled the ICD-11 code content, electronic tooling and terminologies to be updated.
Conclusion: This study provides a detailed account of the processes involved with training clinical coders to use ICD-11. Important findings from the interviews were reported at the annual WHO conferences, and these findings helped improve the ICD-11 browser and reference guide.
{"title":"Training and experience of coding with the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision.","authors":"Cathy A Eastwood, Danielle A Southern, Chelsea Doktorchik, Shahreen Khair, Denise Cullen, Alicia Boxill, Malgorzata Maciszewski, Lucia Otero Varela, William Ghali, Lori Moskal, Hude Quan","doi":"10.1177/18333583211038633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211038633","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The new International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics (ICD-11) was developed and released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2018. Because ICD-11 incorporates new codes and features, training materials for coding with ICD-11 are urgently needed prior to its implementation.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study outlines the development of ICD-11 training materials, training processes and experiences of clinical coders while learning to code using ICD-11.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Six certified clinical coders were recruited to code inpatient charts using ICD-11. Training materials were developed with input from experts from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the WHO, and the clinical coders were trained to use the new classification. Monthly team meetings were conducted to enable discussions on coding issues and to select the correct ICD-11 codes. The training experience was evaluated using qualitative interviews, a questionnaire and a coding quiz.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>total of 3011 charts were coded using ICD-11. In general, clinical coders provided positive feedback regarding the training program. The average score for the coding quiz (multiple choice, True/False) was 84%, suggesting that the training program was effective. Feedback from the coders enabled the ICD-11 code content, electronic tooling and terminologies to be updated.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study provides a detailed account of the processes involved with training clinical coders to use ICD-11. Important findings from the interviews were reported at the annual WHO conferences, and these findings helped improve the ICD-11 browser and reference guide.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"92-100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/82/9f/10.1177_18333583211038633.PMC10170554.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9821849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211027241
João Vasco Santos, Ricardo Novo, Júlio Souza, Fernando Lopes, Alberto Freitas
Dear Editor, In 2013, the planning process to implement the International Classification of Diseases – 10th revision – Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/ PCS) for clinical coding in all public hospitals in Portugal began, replacing its predecessor, the International Classification of Diseases – 9th revision – Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), after almost three decades in use (Diário da República, 2013). The main rationale behind this transition is to improve specificity as the ICD-9-CM might fail to adequately represent all the current diversity of diagnoses and procedures (ACSS, 2016a; Lopes, 2012; Watzlaf et al., 2015). Moreover, the use of ICD-10-CM/PCS would allow an adaptation to newer definitions of the Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) software, which determines a case mix system for hospital reimbursement in Portugal and several other countries. The transition process to ICD-10-CM/PCS started in Portugal in August 2016, with three public hospitals being selected as pilots to implement the new classification system in October 2016, while the remaining hospitals would shift to ICD-10-CM/PCS by January 2017. In Portugal, clinical coding is done by trained medical coders based on information concerning patient disease progress, procedures and treatments that are routinely reported in health records, discharge notes, as well as pathology and surgical reports (ACSS, 2016b, 2021). Following the clinical coding of episodes, an audit phase is internally performed in hospitals usually by auditing clinicians (Barros and Braun, 2017). These audit processes are quite heterogeneous and not systematically performed in a hospital setting. In fact, despite some internal reviews takingplace, some medical coders have stated the need for relevant information for health records audits, namely, clearly defined audit processes, widely accepted official guidelines and health records standards (Alonso et al., 2020a). The resulting coded data concerning all inpatient, surgical or day hospital outpatient episodes from all hospitals within the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) are gathered and held at the Hospital National Morbidity Database, managed by the Central Authority for Health Services, I.P. (ACSS). Despite its main purpose of hospital reimbursement, this comprehensive database is reused in several subdomains, ranging from clinical or health services research, to management and epidemiological studies, by either national or international reusers. During the transition process to ICD-10-CM/PCS, clinical coders’ training played a critical role. However, there are still sources of heterogeneity among hospitals regarding clinical coding practices that also impacted this transition, as resources, documents and tools used and abstracted during the clinical coding process (either electronically or on paper) differ considerably according to the hospital (Alonso et al., 2020a, 2020b). This process is also highly dependent on the informati
{"title":"Transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM/PCS in Portugal: An heterogeneous implementation with potential data implications.","authors":"João Vasco Santos, Ricardo Novo, Júlio Souza, Fernando Lopes, Alberto Freitas","doi":"10.1177/18333583211027241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211027241","url":null,"abstract":"Dear Editor, In 2013, the planning process to implement the International Classification of Diseases – 10th revision – Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/ PCS) for clinical coding in all public hospitals in Portugal began, replacing its predecessor, the International Classification of Diseases – 9th revision – Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), after almost three decades in use (Diário da República, 2013). The main rationale behind this transition is to improve specificity as the ICD-9-CM might fail to adequately represent all the current diversity of diagnoses and procedures (ACSS, 2016a; Lopes, 2012; Watzlaf et al., 2015). Moreover, the use of ICD-10-CM/PCS would allow an adaptation to newer definitions of the Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) software, which determines a case mix system for hospital reimbursement in Portugal and several other countries. The transition process to ICD-10-CM/PCS started in Portugal in August 2016, with three public hospitals being selected as pilots to implement the new classification system in October 2016, while the remaining hospitals would shift to ICD-10-CM/PCS by January 2017. In Portugal, clinical coding is done by trained medical coders based on information concerning patient disease progress, procedures and treatments that are routinely reported in health records, discharge notes, as well as pathology and surgical reports (ACSS, 2016b, 2021). Following the clinical coding of episodes, an audit phase is internally performed in hospitals usually by auditing clinicians (Barros and Braun, 2017). These audit processes are quite heterogeneous and not systematically performed in a hospital setting. In fact, despite some internal reviews takingplace, some medical coders have stated the need for relevant information for health records audits, namely, clearly defined audit processes, widely accepted official guidelines and health records standards (Alonso et al., 2020a). The resulting coded data concerning all inpatient, surgical or day hospital outpatient episodes from all hospitals within the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) are gathered and held at the Hospital National Morbidity Database, managed by the Central Authority for Health Services, I.P. (ACSS). Despite its main purpose of hospital reimbursement, this comprehensive database is reused in several subdomains, ranging from clinical or health services research, to management and epidemiological studies, by either national or international reusers. During the transition process to ICD-10-CM/PCS, clinical coders’ training played a critical role. However, there are still sources of heterogeneity among hospitals regarding clinical coding practices that also impacted this transition, as resources, documents and tools used and abstracted during the clinical coding process (either electronically or on paper) differ considerably according to the hospital (Alonso et al., 2020a, 2020b). This process is also highly dependent on the informati","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"128-131"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10145083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211060034
Petar Milovanovic
In July 2021, after a representative of the Serbian health authorities had cited a recent study from Sri Lanka in the media that the Sinopharm antiCOVID-19 vaccine (BBIBPCorV) was very effective against the Delta strain of SARSCoV-2, I tried to locate the original study. The headlines in the Serbian media read: ‘Sinopharm is the most effective vaccine against the delta variant, studies show’ (RTS, 2021). While conducting a simple online search using a combination of keywords, I was surprised to come across several articles in the English language with headlines suggesting that the Sinopharm vaccine is not effective against the Delta strain (‘Sinopharm’s COVID-19 shot induces weaker antibody responses to Delta -study shows’) (Reuters, 2021). Unfortunately, most people will not read the full articles, let alone attempt to locate the original study to locate the actual results. Reading the full text of the original manuscript revealed that the Sri Lankan study (Jeewandara et al., 2021) had reported that the titre of specific antibodies was comparable between Sinopharm-vaccinated individuals and those who survived a natural infection with the Delta variant. Another observation reported in the study was that the titre of antibodies specific to the Delta strain in vaccinated individuals was lower than that of the original Wuhan variant. It was clear from the text of the original study that the authors had not actually compared the different vaccines; thus, the headlines in the Serbian media implying that this vaccine was ‘the most effective’ had not accurately described the cited research. Nevertheless, the Serbian media headlines correctly emphasised the protection aspect, given that the vaccine obviously offers seroconversion comparable to that of a natural infection. In contrast, the English-language media headlines wrongly emphasised that the vaccine offers a ‘weaker response to Delta’; the study actually showed a weaker response compared with the Wuhan variant, but similar to a natural infection with the Delta strain. These authors had not studied the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infection, hospitalisation or death; rather, they had focused on the evaluation of specific antibodies and T-cell responses. Of note, this was a manuscript uploaded to a preprint server and not a peer-reviewed article; it should also have been read critically andwill, hopefully, soon go through fair review by experts in the field. In the meantime, this is an exemplary case of how easy it is to misinterpret research findings, and how easily some of the ‘fake news’ develops. Special care is needed to avoid cases such as this, to avoid further erosion of people’s trust in health systems and vaccines protecting against COVID-19. This case is also a beautiful reminder that we should always refer to the primary literature.
{"title":"Read science news critically and look for original studies: An example of misleading headlines related to COVID-19 vaccines in mainstream media.","authors":"Petar Milovanovic","doi":"10.1177/18333583211060034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211060034","url":null,"abstract":"In July 2021, after a representative of the Serbian health authorities had cited a recent study from Sri Lanka in the media that the Sinopharm antiCOVID-19 vaccine (BBIBPCorV) was very effective against the Delta strain of SARSCoV-2, I tried to locate the original study. The headlines in the Serbian media read: ‘Sinopharm is the most effective vaccine against the delta variant, studies show’ (RTS, 2021). While conducting a simple online search using a combination of keywords, I was surprised to come across several articles in the English language with headlines suggesting that the Sinopharm vaccine is not effective against the Delta strain (‘Sinopharm’s COVID-19 shot induces weaker antibody responses to Delta -study shows’) (Reuters, 2021). Unfortunately, most people will not read the full articles, let alone attempt to locate the original study to locate the actual results. Reading the full text of the original manuscript revealed that the Sri Lankan study (Jeewandara et al., 2021) had reported that the titre of specific antibodies was comparable between Sinopharm-vaccinated individuals and those who survived a natural infection with the Delta variant. Another observation reported in the study was that the titre of antibodies specific to the Delta strain in vaccinated individuals was lower than that of the original Wuhan variant. It was clear from the text of the original study that the authors had not actually compared the different vaccines; thus, the headlines in the Serbian media implying that this vaccine was ‘the most effective’ had not accurately described the cited research. Nevertheless, the Serbian media headlines correctly emphasised the protection aspect, given that the vaccine obviously offers seroconversion comparable to that of a natural infection. In contrast, the English-language media headlines wrongly emphasised that the vaccine offers a ‘weaker response to Delta’; the study actually showed a weaker response compared with the Wuhan variant, but similar to a natural infection with the Delta strain. These authors had not studied the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infection, hospitalisation or death; rather, they had focused on the evaluation of specific antibodies and T-cell responses. Of note, this was a manuscript uploaded to a preprint server and not a peer-reviewed article; it should also have been read critically andwill, hopefully, soon go through fair review by experts in the field. In the meantime, this is an exemplary case of how easy it is to misinterpret research findings, and how easily some of the ‘fake news’ develops. Special care is needed to avoid cases such as this, to avoid further erosion of people’s trust in health systems and vaccines protecting against COVID-19. This case is also a beautiful reminder that we should always refer to the primary literature.","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10170247/pdf/10.1177_18333583211060034.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10501352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211001584
Christopher David Vetter, John H Kim
Background: Electronic medical record notes have been determined to be lacking in quality, accessibility and content. Structured note templates could provide a way to improve these aspects, particularly with regard to data availability for research and quality improvement.
Objective: To determine whether the implementation of a standardised template for hernia documentation can improve data completeness and timeliness.
Method: Retrospective review of clinic notes of 30 patients, 15 prior to implementation of a standardised note template and 15 after implementation of the template. The number of the 21 Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC) variables which were present in the notes was recorded, as was the time that the consultation ended and the time that the note was submitted.
Results: Mean number of variables collected prior to implementation of the template was 5.9 ± 1.6 vs. 20 ± 0.4 after implementation (p < 0.001). In the pre-implementation group, 20% of the notes were completed after the day of the visit, while all of the notes in the post-implementation group were completed on the same day as the visit (p = 0.367).
Conclusion: Implementation of a structured note template resulted in significantly improved capture of specific database variables within clinical notes. Structured note templates are an effective tool to improve data capture from the clinical setting for research and quality improvement.
{"title":"Impact of implementing structured note templates on data capture for hernia surgery.","authors":"Christopher David Vetter, John H Kim","doi":"10.1177/18333583211001584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211001584","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Electronic medical record notes have been determined to be lacking in quality, accessibility and content. Structured note templates could provide a way to improve these aspects, particularly with regard to data availability for research and quality improvement.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To determine whether the implementation of a standardised template for hernia documentation can improve data completeness and timeliness.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Retrospective review of clinic notes of 30 patients, 15 prior to implementation of a standardised note template and 15 after implementation of the template. The number of the 21 Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC) variables which were present in the notes was recorded, as was the time that the consultation ended and the time that the note was submitted.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Mean number of variables collected prior to implementation of the template was 5.9 ± 1.6 vs. 20 ± 0.4 after implementation (<i>p</i> < 0.001). In the pre-implementation group, 20% of the notes were completed after the day of the visit, while all of the notes in the post-implementation group were completed on the same day as the visit (<i>p</i> = 0.367).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Implementation of a structured note template resulted in significantly improved capture of specific database variables within clinical notes. Structured note templates are an effective tool to improve data capture from the clinical setting for research and quality improvement.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"87-91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/18333583211001584","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9821374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211067845
Kathleen H Pine, Lee Anne Landon, Claus Bossen, M E VanGelder
Background: Numbers of clinical documentation integrity specialists (CDIS) and CDI programs have increased rapidly. CDIS review patient records concurrently with patient admissions and visits to ensure that information is accurate, complete and non-ambiguous, and query clinicians when they see opportunities for improving data. The occupation was initially focused on improving data for reimbursement, but rapid changes to clinical coding requirements, technologies and payment systems led to a quickly evolving role for CDI programs and changes in CDIS practice.
Objective: This case study seeks to uncover the ongoing innovation and adaptation occurring in a CDI program by tracing the evolution of a single CDI program over time.
Method: We present a case study of the CDI program at the HonorHealth hospital system in Arizona.
Results: The HonorHealth CDI program holds a unique hybrid expertise and role within the healthcare organisation that allows it to rapidly adapt to support emergent demands both internal and external to the organisation, such as supporting accurate data collection for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion: CDIS are a vital component in present data-intensive resourcing efforts. The hybrid expertise of CDIS and capacity for adaption and relationship building has enabled the HonorHealth CDI program to adapt rapidly to meet a growing array of clinical documentation integrity needs, including emergent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Implications: The HonorHealth case study can guide other CDI programs in adaptation of the CDI role and practices in response to changing organisational needs.
{"title":"Innovations in clinical documentation integrity practice: Continual adaptation in a data-intensive healthcare organisation.","authors":"Kathleen H Pine, Lee Anne Landon, Claus Bossen, M E VanGelder","doi":"10.1177/18333583211067845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211067845","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Numbers of clinical documentation integrity specialists (CDIS) and CDI programs have increased rapidly. CDIS review patient records concurrently with patient admissions and visits to ensure that information is accurate, complete and non-ambiguous, and query clinicians when they see opportunities for improving data. The occupation was initially focused on improving data for reimbursement, but rapid changes to clinical coding requirements, technologies and payment systems led to a quickly evolving role for CDI programs and changes in CDIS practice.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This case study seeks to uncover the ongoing innovation and adaptation occurring in a CDI program by tracing the evolution of a single CDI program over time.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We present a case study of the CDI program at the HonorHealth hospital system in Arizona.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The HonorHealth CDI program holds a unique hybrid expertise and role within the healthcare organisation that allows it to rapidly adapt to support emergent demands both internal and external to the organisation, such as supporting accurate data collection for the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>CDIS are a vital component in present data-intensive resourcing efforts. The hybrid expertise of CDIS and capacity for adaption and relationship building has enabled the HonorHealth CDI program to adapt rapidly to meet a growing array of clinical documentation integrity needs, including emergent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>The HonorHealth case study can guide other CDI programs in adaptation of the CDI role and practices in response to changing organisational needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"119-124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9804318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01Epub Date: 2020-10-05DOI: 10.1177/1833358320954385
Nyantara Wickramasekera, Sarah K Taylor, Elizabeth Lumley, Thomas Gray, Emma Wilson, Stephen Radley
Background: Patient involvement in decision-making plays a prominent role in improving the quality of healthcare. Despite this, shared decision-making is not routinely implemented. However, electronic assessment tools that capture patients' history, symptoms, opinions and values prior to their medical appointment are used by healthcare professionals during patient consultations to facilitate shared decision-making.
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of electronic assessment tools to improve the shared decision-making process.
Method: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Published literature was searched on MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO to identify potentially relevant studies. Data were extracted and analysed narratively.
Results: Seventeen articles, representing 4004 participants, were included in this review. The main findings were significant improvement in patient-provider communication and provider management of patient condition in the intervention group compared to the control group. In contrast, patient-provider satisfaction and time efficiency were assessed by relatively few included studies, and the effects of these outcomes were inconclusive.
Conclusion: This review found that communication and healthcare professional's management of a patient's condition improves because of the use of electronic questionnaires. This is encouraging because the process of shared decision-making is reliant on high-quality communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
Implications: We found that this intervention is especially important for people with chronic diseases, as they need to establish a long-term relationship with their healthcare provider and agree to a treatment plan that aligns with their values. More rigorous research with validated instruments is required.
{"title":"Can electronic assessment tools improve the process of shared decision-making? A systematic review.","authors":"Nyantara Wickramasekera, Sarah K Taylor, Elizabeth Lumley, Thomas Gray, Emma Wilson, Stephen Radley","doi":"10.1177/1833358320954385","DOIUrl":"10.1177/1833358320954385","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Patient involvement in decision-making plays a prominent role in improving the quality of healthcare. Despite this, shared decision-making is not routinely implemented. However, electronic assessment tools that capture patients' history, symptoms, opinions and values prior to their medical appointment are used by healthcare professionals during patient consultations to facilitate shared decision-making.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To assess the effectiveness of electronic assessment tools to improve the shared decision-making process.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Published literature was searched on MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO to identify potentially relevant studies. Data were extracted and analysed narratively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seventeen articles, representing 4004 participants, were included in this review. The main findings were significant improvement in patient-provider communication and provider management of patient condition in the intervention group compared to the control group. In contrast, patient-provider satisfaction and time efficiency were assessed by relatively few included studies, and the effects of these outcomes were inconclusive.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This review found that communication and healthcare professional's management of a patient's condition improves because of the use of electronic questionnaires. This is encouraging because the process of shared decision-making is reliant on high-quality communication between healthcare professionals and patients.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>We found that this intervention is especially important for people with chronic diseases, as they need to establish a long-term relationship with their healthcare provider and agree to a treatment plan that aligns with their values. More rigorous research with validated instruments is required.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"72-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10170559/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9444091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583221128339
Carol Loggie, Jenny Davis
Aged care in Australia has historically operated in the shadow of health care. However, recent dramatic changes have raised the profile of aged care into the spotlight, due largely to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the older population and the alarming findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality (2021). However, the impetus for change had already been intensifying. Policy development, regulation and funding of aged care services is the responsibility of the Australian Government (Australian Government Department of Health, 2021: 9). Since the late 1990s, in response to the challenges associated with the expanding population of older people, Government policy has aimed to keep people living at home for as long as possible by increasing funding for care and service delivery in the home and community (Australian Government Aged Care Financing Authority, 2020: 7). With residential aged care only being available for those with the highest level of care needs, there has been an increasing complexity in the needs of older people living in the community. Consequently, there is a heavy reliance on a broad range of aged care services for thosewho are living in their own homes, and increased acuity in the needs of residents in care. The result is an aged care sector of many fragmented parts, which presents a myriad of difficulties for older people and their families, for aged care providers, and indeed for governments in planning, funding, and managing services (Davis et al., 2017). To ensure older people have choice and access to appropriate and timely care that delivers the most optimal outcomes, there is a critical need for improvement in aged care health information systems (Sendall et al., 2017). A Virtual Special Issue of the Health Information Management Journal on The Emergence of Health Information in Aged Care, guest edited by Carol Loggie and Jenny Davis, includes recent articles that explore different aspects of information systems and technologies for aged care across three main themes: considerations for the needs and key issues of health information in aged care; innovation and progress in the sector; and future opportunities (see Box 1). Together they highlight the key issues and provide a comprehensive overview of the current context and implications for the future. Considerations for health information in aged care: needs and key issues at three levels
{"title":"The emergence of health information in aged care.","authors":"Carol Loggie, Jenny Davis","doi":"10.1177/18333583221128339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583221128339","url":null,"abstract":"Aged care in Australia has historically operated in the shadow of health care. However, recent dramatic changes have raised the profile of aged care into the spotlight, due largely to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the older population and the alarming findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality (2021). However, the impetus for change had already been intensifying. Policy development, regulation and funding of aged care services is the responsibility of the Australian Government (Australian Government Department of Health, 2021: 9). Since the late 1990s, in response to the challenges associated with the expanding population of older people, Government policy has aimed to keep people living at home for as long as possible by increasing funding for care and service delivery in the home and community (Australian Government Aged Care Financing Authority, 2020: 7). With residential aged care only being available for those with the highest level of care needs, there has been an increasing complexity in the needs of older people living in the community. Consequently, there is a heavy reliance on a broad range of aged care services for thosewho are living in their own homes, and increased acuity in the needs of residents in care. The result is an aged care sector of many fragmented parts, which presents a myriad of difficulties for older people and their families, for aged care providers, and indeed for governments in planning, funding, and managing services (Davis et al., 2017). To ensure older people have choice and access to appropriate and timely care that delivers the most optimal outcomes, there is a critical need for improvement in aged care health information systems (Sendall et al., 2017). A Virtual Special Issue of the Health Information Management Journal on The Emergence of Health Information in Aged Care, guest edited by Carol Loggie and Jenny Davis, includes recent articles that explore different aspects of information systems and technologies for aged care across three main themes: considerations for the needs and key issues of health information in aged care; innovation and progress in the sector; and future opportunities (see Box 1). Together they highlight the key issues and provide a comprehensive overview of the current context and implications for the future. Considerations for health information in aged care: needs and key issues at three levels","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"59-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9541561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-01DOI: 10.1177/18333583211059229
Jomilynn Rebanal, Tim Adair, Lene Mikkelsen
Background: Correct certification of causes of death by physicians according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) rules is essential to generate mortality statistics of the quality needed to guide public health policy debates and reliably monitor the impact of health interventions. Several efforts to train doctors have been undertaken in the Philippines to improve Medical Certification of Causes of Death (MCCOD). However, there is very little evidence about the long-term effects of training interventions for medical certification.
Objective: To test whether there were measurable long-term impacts of this large-scale training intervention for improving medical certification and reducing different types of certification errors.
Method: We assessed the quality of 2100 MCCOD completed before face-to-face training with those written by the same doctors 6 months after the training. An assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of MCCOD.
Results: Less than 1% of the 2100 MCCOD assessed prior to the training were completely error-free, increasing to 19.2% 6 months after the training. On average, the number of errors per certificate fell from 2.2 pre-training to 1.3, six months after training. Importantly, there was a 38% decrease in writing ill-defined causes on the last line, which is particularly important for the policy utility of data.
Conclusion: Training doctors in correct medical certification can have a long-term impact on medical certification practices.
Implications: Shorter, more focused, trainings that address the most common medical certification errors could have an even greater impact on medical certification practices.
{"title":"Is training doctors in medical certification effective? Evidence from a prospective study in the Philippines.","authors":"Jomilynn Rebanal, Tim Adair, Lene Mikkelsen","doi":"10.1177/18333583211059229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18333583211059229","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Correct certification of causes of death by physicians according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) rules is essential to generate mortality statistics of the quality needed to guide public health policy debates and reliably monitor the impact of health interventions. Several efforts to train doctors have been undertaken in the Philippines to improve Medical Certification of Causes of Death (MCCOD). However, there is very little evidence about the long-term effects of training interventions for medical certification.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To test whether there were measurable long-term impacts of this large-scale training intervention for improving medical certification and reducing different types of certification errors.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We assessed the quality of 2100 MCCOD completed before face-to-face training with those written by the same doctors 6 months after the training. An assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of MCCOD.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Less than 1% of the 2100 MCCOD assessed prior to the training were completely error-free, increasing to 19.2% 6 months after the training. On average, the number of errors per certificate fell from 2.2 pre-training to 1.3, six months after training. Importantly, there was a 38% decrease in writing ill-defined causes on the last line, which is particularly important for the policy utility of data.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Training doctors in correct medical certification can have a long-term impact on medical certification practices.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>Shorter, more focused, trainings that address the most common medical certification errors could have an even greater impact on medical certification practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":73210,"journal":{"name":"Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia","volume":"52 2","pages":"101-107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9794709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}