Evaluating Computer Capabilities in a Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network

Adolfo J. Ariza; Helen J. Binns; Katherine Kaufer Christoffel

doi:10.1370/afm.114

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Evaluating Computer Capabilities: Wide Variation Across Practives, Over Time
Jacob M Reider

Published on: 15 November 2004

Published on: (15 November 2004)
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Evaluating Computer Capabilities: Wide Variation Across Practives, Over Time
Jacob M Reider, Albany NY, US
While the results of this study are not surprising, I would expect that if a similar study was done in 2004 the results would be somewhat different - as adoption of information technology has increased recently.
Nonetheless, the study misses an important point about the use of information technology as a research tool - the presence of data in electronic form is only the first step in building a good understan...
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While the results of this study are not surprising, I would expect that if a similar study was done in 2004 the results would be somewhat different - as adoption of information technology has increased recently.
Nonetheless, the study misses an important point about the use of information technology as a research tool - the presence of data in electronic form is only the first step in building a good understanding of what's going on in the clinical encounter. For example, without a well-defined clinical nomenclature, it is hard to characterize outpatient visits in a meaningful way. Billing codes are not clinician-friendly. Even with an Electronic Health record, two physicians may chose two different ICD-9 codes for the same clinical diagnosis. Would this mislead a researcher? Perhaps.
The recent addition of SNOMED to UMLS is a welcome improvement. If software vendors incorporate the SNOMED terms into their products, the accuracy of clinicians' coding will improve - as will the accuracy of any research based on such information.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.