Can Additional Information be Obtained from Claims Data to Support Surgical Site Infection Diagnosis Codes?

摘要

ObjectiveInternational Classification of Diseases (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis codes are increasingly used to identify healthcare-associated infections, often with insufficient evidence demonstrating validity of the codes used. Absent medical record verification, we sought to confirm a claims algorithm to identify surgical site infections (SSIs) by examining the presence of clinically expected SSI treatment.