title: Automatic detection of inconsistencies between free text and coded data in Sarcoma discharge letters.
abstract: Discordance between data stored in Electronic Health Records (EHR) may have a harmful effect on patient care. Automatic identification of such situations is an important yet challenging task, especially when the discordance involves information stored in free text fields. Here we present a method to automatically detect inconsistencies between data stored in free text and related coded fields. Using EHR data we train an ensemble of classifiers to predict the value of coded fields from the free text fields. Cases in which the classifiers predict with high confidence a code different from the clinicians' choice are marked as potential inconsistencies. Experimental results over discharge letters of sarcoma patients, verified by a domain expert, demonstrate the validity of our method.
authors.affiliation: IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel. rutyr@il.ibm.com
authors.forename: Ruty
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rinott
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torresani
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bertulli
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldsteen
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casali
authors.forename: Boaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carmeli
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Slonim
mesh_terms: D059019:Clinical Coding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled