Work

Supplementing Tuberculosis Surveillance with Automated Data from Health Maintenance Organizations

Year: 1999

Type: article

Abstract: As more persons move into managed healthcare organizations, traditional tuberculosis (TB) surveillance methods, which rely heavily on information collected and channeled through the public health system, may need to be supplemented.Accurate, complete surveillance information is important for identification and followup of persons with TB, as well as for accurate assessment of the impact of TB on public health, the effectiveness of control activities, and the planning and prioritizing of interventions.Automated data routinely collected by managed care organizations may complement TB surveillance obtained through reporting to local and state health departments.In this study, we evaluated the use of pharmacy dispensing information and other inpatient and ambulatory-patient data routinely collected by managed care organizations for identifying TB cases. Methods Study PopulationThe study population consisted of approximately 350,000 persons with pharmacy coverage who received their care at one of the 14 Harvard Pilgrim Health Care centers with automated full-text medical records for ambulatory patients and 100,000 persons with pharmacy coverage at 17 practices without such records within Massachusetts from January 1, 1992, to June 30, 1996.Automated pharmacy and billing data, however, were available for the entire study population. Identification of TB Cases from HMO RecordsAmbulatory care, hospital, and emergency room claims for the entire study population were screened for any of 60 International Classification of Diseases,, 9th Revision Clinical Modification diagnosis codes or current procedures terminology codes suggestive of TB.

Source: Emerging infectious diseases

DOI: 10.3201/eid0506.9906

Authors: Deborah S. Yokoe, Girish S. Subramanyan, Edward Nardell, Sharon Sharnprapai, Eugene McCray, Richard Platt