Considerations for observational study design: Comparing the evidence of opioid use between electronic health records and insurance claims.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Pharmacoepidemiology studies often use insurance claims and/or electronic health records (EHR) to capture information about medication exposure. The choice between these data sources has important implications.

Methods

We linked EHR from a large academic health system (2015-2017) to Medicare insurance claims for patients undergoing surgery. Drug utilization was characterized based on medication order dates in the EHR, and prescription fill dates in Medicare claims. We compared opioid use documented in EHR orders to prescription claims in four time periods: 1) Baseline (182 days before surgery); 2) Perioperative period; 3) Discharge date; 4) Follow-up (90 days after surgery).

Results

We identified 11 128 patients undergoing surgery. During baseline, 34.4% (EHR)

SUBMITTER: Young JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9271595 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature