title: EPR-based, quality-related process parameters: a nationwide assessment.
abstract: The aim of the study was to determine whether or not primary care EPR-based data can be used to measure specific process parameters that can then, in turn, be used to assess the quality of care provided to chronic patients. We analysed data from a large research network that collects data from all Belgian GP practices through both manual and automatic extraction procedures. We built a number of quality-related process parameters and observed the concordance of our results with two external databases: a nationwide reimbursement database and a regional EPR-based network. We found that only the automatic data extraction method was suitable for building process parameters. The current research network may lead to an underestimation of the quality of care processes. We suggested ways to improve this network.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Health and Society (IRSS), UCL, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Clercq
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH), Unit of Epidemiology, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Van Casteren
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH), Unit of Epidemiology, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bossuyt
authors.affiliation: Academisch Centrum voor Huisartsgeneeskunde, KU Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goderis
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH), Unit of Epidemiology, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moreels
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058006:General Practice / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*