Hospital discharge codes and substantial underreporting of congenital heart disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hospital discharge codes are relied upon for research, accounting/invoicing and health systems planning. Congenital heart disease (CHD), however, is uniquely difficult for non-cardiologists to code due to the rarity, variety and complexity of lesions. It is therefore important that the accuracy of hospital discharge codes is regularly checked to ensure that the prevalence and burden of CHD is being correctly estimated and recorded.

Methods and results

We identified all inpatient admissions of adults with CHD to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia from January 2018 to March 2021 (257 admissions, 106 unique patients). The associated discharge coding summaries were extracted and compared to the codes in the separately collected and audited Adult CHD dat

SUBMITTER: Chami J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11658532 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature