The Data Quality Study of the Canadian Discharge Abstract Database

The Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) is one of the key data holdings held by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The Institute is a national, not-for-profit organization, which plays a critical role in the development of Canada's health information system. The Discharge Abstract Database contains acute care discharge data from most Canadian hospitals. The data generated are essential for determining, for example, the number and types of procedures, and the length of hospital stays. CIHI is conducting the first national data quality study of selected clinical and administrative data from the DAD. This study is evaluating and measuring the accuracy of the DAD by returning to the original data sources and comparing this information with what exists in the CIHI database in order to identify any discrepancies and their associated reasons. This paper describes the DAD data quality study and some preliminary findings. The findings are also briefly compared to another similar study. In conclusion, the paper discusses the next steps for the study and how the findings from the first year of the study are contributing to improvements in the quality of the DAD.