Journal article
The impact of errors in medical certification on the accuracy of the underlying cause of death
USH Gamage, T Adair, L Mikkelsen, PKB Mahesh, J Hart, H Chowdhury, H Li, R Joshi, WMCK Senevirathna, HDNL Fernando, D McLaughlin, AD Lopez
Plos One | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2021
Open access
Abstract
Background Correct certification of cause of death by physicians (i.e. completing the medical certificate of cause of death or MCCOD) and correct coding according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) rules are essential to produce quality mortality statistics to inform health policy. Despite clear guidelines, errors in medical certification are common. This study objectively measures the impact of different medical certification errors upon the selection of the underlying cause of death. Methods A sample of 1592 error-free MCCODs were selected from the 2017 United States multiple cause of death data. The ten most common types of errors in completing the MCCOD (according to publi..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
This study was funded under an award from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the University of Melbourne to support the Data for Health Initiative. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.