Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-15-2015

Identifier

PMCID: PMC4572624, DOI: 10.1186/s12913-015-1025-7

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The growing availability of electronic health records (EHRs) in the US could provide researchers with a more detailed and clinically relevant alternative to using claims-based data.

METHODS: In this study we compared a very large EHR database (Health Facts©) to a well-established population estimate (Nationwide Inpatient Sample). Weighted comparisons were made using t-value and relative difference over diagnoses and procedures for the year 2010.

RESULTS: The two databases have a similar distribution pattern across all data elements, with 24 of 50 data elements being statistically similar between the two data sources. In general, differences that were found are consistent across diagnosis and procedures categories and were specific to the psychiatric-behavioral and obstetrics-gynecology services areas.

CONCLUSIONS: Large EHR databases have the potential to be a useful addition to health services researchers, although they require different analytic techniques compared to administrative databases; more research is needed to understand the differences.

Journal Title

BMC health services research [electronic resource]

Volume

15

First Page

384

Last Page

384

MeSH Keywords

Databases; Factual; Electronic Health Records; Female; Health Services Research; Humans; Inpatients; Male; Middle Aged; United States

Keywords

electronic medical record; Electronic Health Records

Comments

Comparative Study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4572624/pdf/12913_2015_Article_1025.pdf

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