Harnessing a health information exchange to identify surgical device adverse events for urogynecologic mesh

We sought to create an automated means to conduct surveillance of complications related to urogynecologic mesh because current postmarket surveillance fails to detect the true incidence of device-related adverse events. Using health information exchange data, we developed a search algorithm to identify urogynecologic surgeries with mesh implantation and associated inpatient adverse events. We validated the algorithm search results against those obtained from a manual case review of mesh surgical records. Our refined automated search strategy matched 93% of the 2874 mesh cases manually identified, and further identified 97% of 2103 vaginal mesh cases. Complications were identified in 380 of the 2874 mesh cases. This is the first known report of an automated process for identifying urogynecologic surgical mesh implantation cases from a health information exchange. Automated surveillance of health information exchange data may contribute to tracking of device-related adverse events.