LAUSR

* Abbreviation: EHR — : electronic health record Ever since Deyo et al1 translated the Charlson Comorbidity Index from chart-abstracted information into International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis codes, the repurposing of administrative billing data has been a staple of health services research and epidemiological surveillance. This is especially true for studies of rare but devastating outcomes, such as mortality and morbidity among neonates with very low birth weight, in which the collection of clinical data across multiple hospitals is an expensive undertaking. In a study in this issue of Pediatrics , Tawfik et al2makes an important contribution to this research by validating the codes used in administrative data against information extracted from medical charts from a large number of hospitals across California. They find excellent correlation for important variables that researchers rely on for surveillance and performance modeling, and they find some areas for improvement. In general, clinicians can feel confident that the big issues affecting neonatal outcomes, such as very low birth … Address correspondence to Paul L. Hebert, PhD, Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Magnuson Health Sciences Center, 1959 NE Pacific St, Box 357660, Seattle, WA 98195-7660. E-mail: heberp{at}u.washington.edu