Why the study?
Does claims data accurately reflect guideline-adherent OAC treatment rates in primary care atrial fibrillation patients compared to clinical EMR data?
Does claims data accurately reflect guideline-adherent OAC treatment rates in primary care atrial fibrillation patients compared to clinical EMR data?
Quality indicators based on crude claims data systematically underestimate guideline-adherent OAC treatment in AF patients because they fail to capture individual clinical contraindications.
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Crude claims data may underestimate AF care quality; leaves open whether ICD codes reliably measure guideline adherence.
Our results suggest that a high rate of AF patients receive a drug therapy according to guidelines. There is a large difference between crude and adjusted OAC treatment rates. This is due to individual contraindications and comorbidities which cannot be documented using ICD coding. Therefore, quality indicators based on crude EMR data or claims data would lead to a systematic underestimation of the quality of care. A possible overtreatment of low-risk patients cannot be ruled out.
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Preuß et al. (2016) studied this question.
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