Feasibility of road traffic injury surveillance integrating police and health insurance data sets in the Dominican Republic.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of semiautomated linking of road traffic injury (RTI) cases in different data sets in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: The study population consisted of RTI cases in the Dominican Republic in 2010 and were identified in police and health insurance data sets. After duplicates were removed and fatality reporting was corrected by using forensic data, police and health insurance RTI records were linked if they had the same province, collision date, and gender of RTI cases and similar age within five years. A multinomial logistic regression model assessed the likelihood of being in only one of the data sets. RESULTS: One of five records was a duplicate, including 21.1% of 6 396 police and 16.2% of 6 178 insurance records. Health insurance data recorded 43 of 417 deaths as only injured. Capture - recapture estimated that both data sets recorded one of five RTI cases. Characteristics associated with increased likelihood (P < 0.05) of being only in the police data set were female gender [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.5], age ≥ 16 years (OR = 1.7), collision in the regions of Cibao Northeast (OR = 4.1) and Valdesia (OR = 6.4), day of occurrence from Tuesday to Saturday (ORs from 1.5 to 2.9), month of occurrence from October to December (ORs from 1.6 to 4.5), and occupant of four-wheeled vehicles (OR = 5.4) or trucks (OR = 5.3). CONCLUSIONS: Consistent semiautomated linking procedures were feasible to ascertain the RTI burden in the Dominican Republic and could be improved by standardized coding of police and health insurance RTI reporting.

Feasibility of road traffic injury surveillance integrating police and health insurance data sets in the Dominican Republic / Factibilidad de la vigilancia de las lesiones por accidentes de tránsito mediante la integración de los conjuntos de datos de la policía y del seguro nacional de salud en la República Dominicana

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of semiautomated linking of road traffic injury (RTI) cases in different data sets in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: The study population consisted of RTI cases in the Dominican Republic in 2010 and were identified in police and health insurance data sets. After duplicates were removed and fatality reporting was corrected by using forensic data, police and health insurance RTI records were linked if they had the same province, collision date, and gender of RTI cases and similar age within five years. A multinomial logistic regression model assessed the likelihood of being in only one of the data sets. RESULTS: One of five records was a duplicate, including 21.1% of 6 396 police and 16.2% of 6 178 insurance records. Health insurance data recorded 43 of 417 deaths as only injured. Capture - recapture estimated that both data sets recorded one of five RTI cases. Characteristics associated with increased likelihood (P < 0.05) of being only in the police data set were female gender [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.5], age ≥ 16 years (OR = 1.7), collision in the regions of Cibao Northeast (OR = 4.1) and Valdesia (OR = 6.4), day of occurrence from Tuesday to Saturday (ORs from 1.5 to 2.9), month of occurrence from October to December (ORs from 1.6 to 4.5), and occupant of four-wheeled vehicles (OR = 5.4) or trucks (OR = 5.3). CONCLUSIONS: Consistent semiautomated linking procedures were feasible to ascertain the RTI burden in the Dominican Republic and could be improved by standardized coding of police and health insurance RTI reporting.

OBJETIVO: Evaluar la factibilidad de la vinculación semiautomática de los registros de casos de lesiones por accidentes de tránsito (LAT) de diferentes conjuntos de datos en países de ingresos bajos y medianos. MÉTODOS: La población de estudio la constituían los casos de LAT ocurridos en la República Dominicana en el 2010 y registrados en los conjuntos de datos de la policía y del seguro nacional de salud. Después de eliminar los casos duplicados y corregir la notificación de defunciones a partir de los datos forenses, se vincularon los registros de LAT de la policía y el seguro de enfermedad si los casos correspondían a la misma provincia, fecha de colisión y sexo, y la edad era similar con una diferencia no superior a cinco años. Se evaluó la probabilidad de aparecer únicamente en uno de los conjuntos de datos mediante un modelo de regresión logística polinómica. RESULTADOS: Uno de cada cinco registros estaba duplicado (21,1% de los 6 396 registros de la policía y 16,2% de los 6 178 registros del seguro). En el conjunto de datos del seguro nacional de salud se registraron 43 de las 417 defunciones como únicamente lesionados. Mediante el método de captura-recaptura se calculó que en ambos conjuntos de datos se registraban uno de cada cinco casos de LAT. Las características asociadas con una mayor probabilidad (P < 0,05) de aparecer únicamente en el conjunto de datos de la policía fueron el sexo femenino (razón de posibilidades ajustada [OR] = 2,5), la edad ≥ 16 años (OR = 1,7), la colisión en las regiones del nordeste de Cibao (OR = 4,1) y Valdesia (OR = 6,4), el día del accidente de martes a sábado (OR de 1,5 a 2,9), el mes del accidente de octubre a diciembre (OR de 1,6 a 4,5) y los ocupantes de vehículos de cuatro ruedas (OR = 5,4) o camiones (OR = 5,3). CONCLUSIONES: Los procedimientos sistemáticos de vinculación semiautomatizada se mostraron factibles para evaluar la carga de LAT en la República Dominicana, y se podrían mejorar mediante la codificación estandarizada de las notificaciones de LAT de la policía y del seguro nacional de salud.

The utility of PRO data on surgical volume: the example of carotid endarterectomy.

As part of a small-area analysis of carotid endarterectomy (CE) surgery, this review of Medicare claims data for a 26-month period addresses variations in surgical volume, mortality, readmissions, and charges. A surprisingly high percentage of surgeons performing CE did few procedures, and surgical volume appeared to be associated with higher mortality and charges. The implications of these data for both hospital credentialing committees and management and for purchasers and consumers of care, as well as the ways in which the Health Care Financing Organization's (HCFA) Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative (HCQII) will reorder their relationships with peer review organizations (PROs), are discussed. This study is useful in addressing the potential of efforts by PROs to increase the quality of care under the HCQII.