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Enhancing Hawaii Hospital Information Content: High-Level Analysis of Transmitted Laboratory Data

Hawaii Health Information Corporation

Enhancing Hawaii Hospital Information Content (eHHIC)

Deliverable 3:

High-Level Analysis of Transmitted Laboratory Data

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. OBJECTIVE

II. METHOD

a. DATA STANDARDIZATION

i. LOINC

ii. Facility Id Standardization

iii. Blood Gases

iv. HL7 Formatting

b. MISSING LABORATORY DATA

c. DATA QUALITY

i. Discharge Dates

ii. Account and Medical Record Differences

III. CONCLUSION

IV. SIGNATURES

APPENDIX A: SUMMARY OF 32 REQUESTED LAB TESTS

APPENDIX B: DATA TRANSMISSION FORMAT, BY FACILITY

Logo for Hawaii Health Information Corporation, Hawaii's source of healthcare data

I. Objective

To construct a standardized, high-quality clinical dataset consisting of laboratory test values from 19 participating hospitals which will be linked with hospital inpatient discharge data from CY2008-2011.

  1. Data Standardization
    1. LOINC
    2. Facility ID
    3. Blood Gases
    4. HL7 format
  2. Data quality
    1. Discharge Dates
    2. Account and Medical Record Differences

II. Method

HHIC initially supplied all participating laboratory data providers with data specifications that would allow for receipt of high-quality data standardized across all data providers. Some data providers would have required extension of the specified time frame to fully conform to the requested data specifications; while several facilities faced such large resource constraints that they could not conform to the specified data format altogether. To minimize resource utilization by data providers and to stay within the project time frame, HHIC relaxed the data specification requirement and instead accepted transmissions that were largely facility-specific. As a result, HHIC had to evaluate all transmitted data to ensure that they met the initial formatting, quality and completeness requirements.

All non-federal acute care hospitals in Hawaii were invited to participate in this study. Of the 24 invited hospitals, 19 hospitals participated in the study.1

As of September 27, 2012, a total of 30,668,969 laboratory records from 2008 to 2011 were received from the 19 participating facilities.

  1. Data Standardization

    1. LOINC

      Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) are the universal standard for identifying medical laboratory observations. Because LOINC is increasingly accepted by laboratories, we requested that each provider use LOINC for the transmitted lab data. However, we discovered in our early interviews that not all lab tests have been converted to a standard LOINC. As a result, we initiated discussions with the two main laboratories and agreed upon specific LOINC codes to be used for the 32 requested lab tests (Appendix A).

      Although the laboratories had the capability to transmit the LOINC code within the lab message, the "in-house" labs were not as familiar with the LOINC standard and were unable to send the LOINC code. For these labs, HHIC created a LOINC crosswalk to map the facilities' "local test code" to the appropriate LOINC standard.2


    2. Facility ID Standardization

      The Facility ID listed in the lab results differed from the Facility ID present in the HHIC discharge database. As a result, HHIC established a Master Facility ID and created a crosswalk used to link the lab data to the discharge record.


    3. Blood Gases

      While HHIC's initial strategy was to receive lab data for seventeen facilities from the two main laboratories in the State, through discussions with the labs, it was noted that seven out of these seventeen hospitals perform and report their own blood gases due to the sensitivity and timing of the test.

      Blood Gases (pO2, pCO2, pH, Base Excess and Bicarbonate) are significant to the study as they have been proven through peer reviewed literature (McCullough, 2011) to be important predictors of inpatient mortality and complications based on adjustment of patient level All-Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APRDRGs) risk of mortality (ROM) scores.

      As a result, additional agreements needed to be established with seven hospitals to extract and provide their blood gas data for the study. Transmitting the blood gas data from these individual facilities was not without challenges. Separate data extracts needed to be created and additional electronic interfaces needed to be implemented. One facility was unable to provide blood gas data for the entire study period due to the lack of an electronic interface. Because of the small volume of annual discharges (approximately 1,262 discharge records out of a total of 135,000 approximate discharge records per year), the exclusion of the blood gas data for this facility did not have a significant impact on the study.


    4. HL7 Formatting

      HHIC initially requested laboratory data be submitted via HL7 v2.5.1, the standard method for exchanging, managing and integrating healthcare information from one system to another. Both historical and "live" (current) lab data were requested from each facility to cover the study period (CY 2008-2011). However, because some facilities were unable to transmit lab data in this format, we allowed facilities to submit data in the formats described below.

      1. Live Lab Data

        Of the 19 participating facilities, all except one transmitted live laboratory results via multiple HL7 versions. To standardize the HL7 messages to the most current HL7 version (v.2.5.1), HHIC mapped prior HL7 versions (v2.3) to the current version using our HL7 transformation tool.


      2. Historical Lab Data

        Submitting historical data via HL7 presented additional challenges, as it was resource intensive for majority of the facilities and for many (18) was programmatically unmanageable due to the way the data were stored. The facilities requested to submit the data in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. To maintain data standardization, HHIC distributed ASCII file data specifications that were equivalent to the HL7 data specifications. The ASCII files were then mapped to the appropriate HL7 message segment within HHIC's HL7 transformation tool.


      3. Blood Gases

        Seven hospitals performed and reported their own blood gas tests. Due to system and reporting capabilities, various data formats were received for these tests. These included ASCII files, HL7 transmissions and SQL database extracts. These files were processed and formatted by HHIC to meet HHIC's standardization requirements.


    5. A complete listing of lab reporting format by facility is found in Appendix B.


  2. Missing Laboratory Data

    Four hospitals were unable to provide blood gas data for specific time periods due to the transition of implementing an Electronic Medical Record system (EMRs).

    The chart listed below details the hospitals and time frame of the missing data.


  3. Hospital Data Elements Time Period
    Pali Momi* All Blood Gases Jan 2008 - Apr 6, 2008
    Kapiolani Womens & Children* All Blood Gases Jan 2008 - Nov 8, 2008
    Maui Memorial All Blood Gases Jan 2008 - Apr 2008
    Jan 2009 - Aug 2009
    Wilcox* All Blood Gases Jan 26, 2011 - Aug 3, 2011
    *Hospitals are part of the same hospital system, Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH), and utilize the same lab reporting software.


  4. Data Quality

    Several data issues were discovered and needed to be resolved before moving forward with the linking of the datasets.

    1. Discharge Dates

      Discharge dates from the lab results were incomplete across all facilities. One of the laboratories was unable to provide the discharge date for two facilities (Molokai and The Queens Medical Center) historical data. Understandably, 'live' or current lab data transmissions also did not include the discharge date. Although .12% of the total records submitted contained a blank observation date, the observation date was submitted more consistently and was therefore used as a key matching variable when linking the lab records to the appropriate discharge record.


    2. Account and Medical Record Number Differences

      Preliminary analysis showed that two key linking variables (account number and medical record number) submitted in the lab data for two facilities differed from the values present in HHIC's discharge data and prevented the linking of the lab data to the hospitalization discharge record for these two facilities.

      One facility's electronic medical record system (EMR) generated two "hospital account numbers". The account number provided in HHIC's discharge dataset is the hospital billing number while the account number provided in the laboratory data is one specific to the patient's visit. A point of contact was established with this facility to assist with creating a crosswalk between the two account numbers for linking purposes.

      Through discussion with the laboratories, it was determined that one hospital system submitted the medical record number to the lab in a position within the HL7 message that is outside the norm. This resulted in the laboratory modifying their lab extract to supply the correct medical record number.


III. Conclusion



Although predefined data specifications were provided to all facilities to aid in the preparation of laboratory data files, it was important for HHIC to remain flexible regarding the types of data that were received and how they were transmitted in order to sustain facility participation in the study. Of equal importance was the allocation of additional time, effort and resources to adjust for data inconsistencies across all facilities through use of crosswalks, standardization and formatting. These were two crucial components of the process that produced a high-quality laboratory dataset to link to HHIC's Inpatient discharge data.

IV. Signatures



Prepared by:___________________________________________

Position Title:___________________________________________________

Date:_____________________________



Approvals:

Project Manager:____________________________________________________________

Date:_______________________________________



Co-Principal Investigator: ______________________________________________________

Date:________________________________________________

Appendix A: Summary of 32 Requested Lab Tests

  Lab Test Lab Test Name LOINC Units LOINC SHORTNAME
Chemistry Albumin Albumin 1751-7 g/dL Albumin SerPl-mCnc
Alkaline phosphatase Alkaline phosphatase 6768-6 U/L;units/L ALP SerPl-cCnc
Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) Urea nitrogen 3094-0 mg/dL BUN SerPl-mCnc
Bilirubin (total) Bilirubin 1975-2 mg/dL Bilirub SerPl-mCnc
Calcium Calcium 17861-6 mg/dL Calcium SerPl-mCnc
Chloride Chloride 2075-0 mmol/L Chloride SerPl-sCnc
Creatine kinase-MB Creatine kinase.MB 13969-1 ng/mL;ug/L CK MB SerPl-mCnc
Creatinine Creatinine 2160-0 mg/dL Creat SerPl-mCnc
Glucose Glucose 2345-7 mg/dL Glucose SerPl-mCnc
Gamma glutamyl transferase Gamma glutamyl transferase 2324-2 U/L;units/L GGT SerPl-cCnc
Potassium Potassium 2823-3 mmol/L Potassium SerPl-sCnc
Phosphate Phosphate 2777-1 mg/dL Phosphate SerPl-mCnc
BNP Natriuretic peptide B 30934-4 pg/mL BNP SerPl-mCnc
Sodium Sodium 2951-2 mmol/L Sodium SerPl-sCnc
Troponin I Troponin I.cardiac 10839-9 ug/L;ng/mL Troponin I SerPl-mCnc
SGOT Aspartate aminotransferase 1920-8 U/L;units/L AST SerPl-cCnc
SGPT Alanine aminotransferase 1742-6 U/L;units/L ALT SerPl-cCnc
Blood Gas pO2 Oxygen 2703-7 mm Hg pO2 BldA
pCO2 Carbon dioxide 2019-8 mm Hg pCO2 BldA
pH pH 2744-1   pH BldA
Base excess Base excess 1925-7 mmol/L Base excess BldA-sCnc
Bicarbonate Bicarbonate 1960-4 mmol/L HCO3 BldA-sCnc
Hematology Hemoglobin Hemoglobin 718-7 g/dL Hgb Bld-mCnc
Hematocrit Hematocrit 4544-3 L/L;% Hct Fr Bld Auto
Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) Coagulation surface induced 14979-9 Sec aPTT Time PPP
Prothrombin time (PT) Coagulation tissue factor induced 5902-2 Sec PT Time PPP
INR Coagulation tissue factor induced.INR 34714-6 INR(POC) INR PPP
Platelet count Platelets 777-3 10^9/L Platelet # Bld Auto
White blood count (WBC) Leukocytes 6690-2 10*3/uL WBC # Bld Auto
Microbiology Blood culture Blood culture 600-7 N/A  
Urine culture Urine culture 630-4 N/A  
Sputum culture Sputum culture 6460-0 N/A  


Appendix B: Data Transmission Format, by Facility



Facility Reporting Lab† LIVE Data Historical Data Note
Blood Gases All Other Labs Blood Gases All Other Labs
Castle In House/DLS HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII DLS provides Microbiology Labs
Hamakua CLH HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII  
HMC - East CLH HL7§ HL7 SQL§ ASCII  
HMC - West CLH HL7§ HL7 SQL§ ASCII  
Hilo CLH HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII  
Kaiser In-House ASCII ASCII ASCII ASCII  
Kapiolani CLH HL7§ HL7 ASCII§ ASCII  
Pali Momi CLH HL7§ HL7 ASCII§ ASCII  
Kohala CLH HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII  
Ka'u CLH N/A HL7 N/A ASCII  
Kula CLH N/A HL7 N/A ASCII  
Kauai Veterans CLH Manual HL7 Manual ASCII Blood Gases not supplied due to no electronic interface
Maui CLH HL7§ HL7 HL7§ ASCII  
Molokai DLS HL7 HL7 N/A HL7  
North Hawaii CLH HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII  
Kona CLH HL7 HL7 ASCII ASCII  
Straub CLH HL7§ HL7 ASCII§ ASCII  
Queens CLH HL7 HL7 HL7 HL7  
Wilcox CLH HL7§ HL7 ASCII§ ASCII  
† Unless otherwise noted above, hospital laboratory data were submitted by one of the two main laboratories in the State of Hawaii - Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii (CLH) or Diagnostic Laboratory Services (DLS).
§Blood gas results provided directly by hospital, independently from reporting lab.

1 See Deliverable 1 for more detail on hospital participation.

2 The crosswalk was approved by each provider.


Internet Citation: Enhancing Hawaii Hospital Information Content: High-Level Analysis of Transmitted Laboratory Data. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). August 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/clinicalcontentenhancementtoolkit/hi26.jsp.
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Last modified 8/20/14