Comparison of methodologies for calculating quality measures based on administrative data versus clinical data from an electronic health record system: implications for performance measures

New reimbursement policies and pay-for-performance programs to reward providers for producing better outcomes are proliferating. We compared quality measures calculated from administrative data to those derived from clinical data in an electronic health record (EHR) based on a random sample of 125 charts of Medicare patients with diabetes. Using standard definitions based on administrative data, only 75% of diabetics determined by manually reviewing the EHR were identified. In contrast, 97% of diabetics were identified using coded information in the EHR. The discrepancies in identified patients resulted in statistically significant differences in the quality measures for frequency of HbA1c testing, control of blood pressure, frequency of testing for urine protein, and frequency of eye exams for diabetic patients. New development of standardized quality measures should shift from claims-based measures to clinically based measures that can be derived from coded information in an EHR. Using data from EHRs will also leverage their clinical content without adding burden to the care process.