Feasibility of Using Administrative Data to Compare Healthcare-Associated Infection Performance

Abstract

To determine the level of national patients’ safety and to establish improvement strategies of patient safety through comparison between countries, we used administrative data of the patient safety indicators (PSI). This study conducted a two-step verification method. First, we calculated PSIs using administrative data and then confirmed the validity and applicability of indicators by reviewing the medical records. Four PSIs were calculated using NHI claims data, 6,592,121 cases in 2010; postoperative sepsis, catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI), pressure ulcer and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). A total of six institutions were selected as the sample survey and carried out reviewing medical record. The NHI claims data and medical records survey results had a significant difference for the four PSIs. In conclusion, we didn’t have confidence the validity of PSI utilizing the NHI claims data. However, the importance of health care quality improvement and patient safety activities using quality indicators is increasing. We should explore diverse strategies to increase the accuracy of administrative data and study the different way to utilize the data.