AUTOMATIC CODING SYSTEMS FOR MORTALITY DATA Prague, Czech Republic, June 3

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AUTOMATIC CODING SYSTEMS FOR MORTALITY
DATAPrague, Czech Republic, June 3 5 2004
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The Implementation of Automatic Coding in Scotland

• Graham Jackson
• General Register Office for Scotland

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Factors influencing the change to automatic coding

• The migration from mainframe to PC-based
  processing of vital events data required a major
  rewrite of all the relevant software
• The development by NCHS of a PC-based version of
  their automated coding software
• The increased use of electronic registration
  software (SRS) in local registration offices

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Key objectives

• Improved consistency in the standards of coding
• Increased comparability - both within the UK and
  internationally
• Potential for multiple cause coding
• Faster processing
• Potential staff/cost savings

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NCHS software components

• Super-Micar
• MICAR
• ACME
• TRANSAX

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Scottish differences

• Super-MICAR not used for data entry
• Data grooming
• The Super-MICAR spellchecker dictionary has been
  anglicised
• Additional validation checks
• Medical enquiries
• Only ten entity/record axis codes stored

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Hardware software

• System developed using CA Open Road
• Ingres relational database
• Sequent unix server
• TCP/IP over a Novell network
• Windows PCs

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Developments since 1996

• Keying of records now reduced to 1 per cent
• A new medical certificate of cause of death,
  including a fourth line in Part I, was introduced
  in 1999.
• Moving from the DOS, ICD9, version to the
  Windows, ICD10, version of ACS
• Year 2000 testing of all our systems
• More structured quality control

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Benefits

• Improved consistency
• Increased comparability
• Potential of multiple cause analyses (as yet this
  has not been exploited much)
• Faster processing
• Staff savings

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Problems

• Some initial delays
• Coding problems
• Problems with specific words
• All were minor

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Future plans

• More analysis of the data (including multiple
  causes)

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AUTOMATIC CODING SYSTEMS FOR MORTALITY
DATAPrague, Czech Republic, June 3 5 2004