Preparing Electronic Clinical Data for Quality Improvement and Comparative Effectiveness Research: The SCOAP CERTAIN Automation and Validation Project.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The field of clinical research informatics includes creation of clinical data repositories (CDRs) used to conduct quality improvement (QI) activities and comparative effectiveness research (CER). Ideally, CDR data are accurately and directly abstracted from disparate electronic health records (EHRs), across diverse health-systems. OBJECTIVE: Investigators from Washington State's Surgical Care Outcomes and Assessment Program (SCOAP) Comparative Effectiveness Research Translation Network (CERTAIN) are creating such a CDR. This manuscript describes the automation and validation methods used to create this digital infrastructure. METHODS: SCOAP is a QI benchmarking initiative. Data a..