Producing better data is a key objective of the province’s Information Management Strategy. Sound health care planning decisions require accurate, timely and accessible data. Quality information is essential to making effective evidence-based decisions, which ultimately impact on the province’s ability to adequately meet the health care needs of Ontarians.

The 2005 Data Quality Report: The State of Data Quality in Ontario examines current clinical, statistical, financial and administrative data collection and reporting practices, processes and standards for Ontario’s health care sector. It is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the system’s current strengths and weaknesses, and a road map for improving the quality, reliability and accessibility of the province’s health care data.

The report not only supports many of the data quality initiatives that are underway, such as the Local Data Management Partnerships, it provides the basis for further data quality improvement initiatives.

The components of the 2005 Data Quality Report include:

Executive Summary: The Executive Summary provides an overview of the state of data quality in Ontario and presents key opportunities for improvement identified from these reports. Actions recommended by partners and stakeholders are described, as well as next steps in improving the quality of health data in Ontario. The summary includes an integrated table of contents for each component of the Data Quality Report, for ease of reference.

Re-Abstraction Study of the Ontario Case Costing Facilities for Fiscal Years 2002/2003 and 2003/2004: The largest re-abstraction study ever conducted in Canada assesses the abilities of case costing hospitals to meet established standards of clinical data reporting. It contains key recommendations for improving the quality of the clinical data in the Discharge Abstract Database.

Report on the State of Health Records Departments in Ontario Hospitals: This study is the first comprehensive review of Ontario hospital health records departments. The survey, which elicited a 96 per cent response rate from the province’s hospitals, assessed organizational structure, data management processes, data quality, education, standards, technology and best practices. LHIN-specific findings are also available.

Thinking About Gaps—A Report on Information Management: This report identifies data quality issues, as well as gaps in data holdings, data management and collection processes. The findings reflect the combined input of MOHLTC representatives, senior health care executives, research partners and consultants.

Unexpected Findings in the Ontario Healthcare Reporting System (OHRS): This report builds on earlier work begun by the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in its 2000 study, “An Examination of How Hospitals Use the Reporting Framework Prescribed in the Ontario Hospital Reporting System.” It examines the variances in hospital financial/statistical reporting specific to unexpected balances in the OHRS dataset.

Data Quality Reports

2005 Data Quality Executive Summary 10 pages | 97 Kb | PDF format

Reabstraction Study of the Ontario Case Costing Facilities 126 pages | 1.6 Mb | PDF format

Provincial Report on the State of Health Records Departments in Ontario Hospitals 66 pages | 1.6 Mb | PDF format

Thinking About Gaps: A Report on Information Management 21 pages | 140 Kb | PDF format

Unexpected Findings in the Ontario Health Care Reporting System (OHRS) 23 pages | 170 Kb | PDF format

Reports are provided in PDF format. To view PDF format files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat® Reader installed on your computer.    You can download this free software from the Adobe Web site.

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