Engineering Commons^™

Comparing Record Linkage Software Programs And Algorithms Using Real-World Data., Alan F. Karr, Matthew T. Taylor, Suzanne L. West, Soko Setoguchi, Tzuyung D. Kou, Tobias Gerhard, Daniel B. Horton

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Linkage of medical databases, including insurer claims and electronic health records (EHRs), is increasingly common. However, few studies have investigated the behavior and output of linkage software. To determine how linkage quality is affected by different algorithms, blocking variables, methods for string matching and weight determination, and decision rules, we compared the performance of 4 nonproprietary linkage software packages linking patient identifiers from noninteroperable inpatient and outpatient EHRs. We linked datasets using first and last name, gender, and date of birth (DOB). We evaluated DOB and year of birth (YOB) as blocking variables and used exact and inexact matching methods. …