Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40247903›Full record

ArticleLearning health systems2025

Assessing the harmonization of structured electronic health record data to reference terminologies and data completeness through data provenance.

Keith Marsolo, Lesley Curtis, Laura Qualls, Jennifer Xu, Yinghong Zhang, Thomas Phillips, C Larry Hill, Gretchen Sanders, Judith C Maro, Daniel Kiernan and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Learning health systems, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Keith MarsoloDepartment of Population Health Sciences Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Lesley CurtisDepartment of Population Health Sciences Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Laura QuallsDuke Clinical Research Institute Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Jennifer XuDepartment of Pediatrics Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA.
Yinghong ZhangDuke Clinical Research Institute Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Thomas PhillipsDuke Clinical Research Institute Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
C Larry HillDuke Clinical Research Institute Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Gretchen SandersDuke Clinical Research Institute Duke University School of Medicine Durham North Carolina USA.
Judith C MaroDepartment of Population Medicine Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts USA.
Daniel KiernanDepartment of Population Medicine Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Boston Massachusetts USA.
Christine DraperDepartment of Population Medicine Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Boston Massachusetts USA.
Kevin CoughlinDepartment of Population Medicine Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Boston Massachusetts USA.
Sarah K DutcherUS Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring Maryland USA.
José J Hernández-MuñozUS Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring Maryland USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2553-3159
Monique FalconerUS Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring Maryland USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: (1) Assess the harmonization of structured electronic health record data (laboratory results and medications) to reference terminologies and characterize the severity of issues. (2) Identify issues of data completeness by comparing complementary data domains, stratifying by time, care setting, and provenance. Methods: Queries were distributed to 3 Data Partners (DP). Using harmonization queries, we examined the top 200 laboratory results and medications by volume, identifying outliers and computing summary statistics. The completeness queries looked at 4 conditions of interest and related clinical concepts. Counts were generated for each condition, stratified by year, encounter type, and provenance. We analyzed trends over time within and across DPs. Results: We found that the median number of codes associated with a given laboratory/medication name (and vice versa) generally met expectations, though there were DP-specific issues that resulted in outliers. In addition, there were drastic differences in the percentage of patients with a given concept depending on provenance. Conclusions: The harmonization queries surfaced several mapping errors, as well as issues with overly specific codes and records with "null" codes. The completeness queries demonstrated having access to multiple types of data provenance provides more robust results compared with any single provenance type. Harmonization errors between source data and reference terminologies may not be widespread but do exist within CDMs, affecting tens of thousands or even millions of records. Provenance information can help identify potential completeness issues with EHR data, but only if it is represented in the CDM and then populated by DPs.

Indexed as

common data modelsdata provenancedata qualityharmonization

Identifiers

PMID40247903
PMCPMC12000768

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