Impact of the medical record credential on data quality

This research study was funded by the Foundation of Record Education of the American Medical Record Association. The Department of Medical Record Administration at the University of Illinois, Chicago, was awarded the grant in the summer of 1984. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of coded and abstracted medical record data and to determine if a relationship existed between data quality and the professional credentials of the individuals who manage and/or supervise the collection of these data. The study consisted of three phases: a telephone interview conducted of 83 hospitals, recoding and reabstracting of medical records performed by the staffs of 59 hospitals, and 34 random on-site visits for a reliability check. Data was collected and analyzed from each of the three phases of the study.