Updates to the data quality review program: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac National Database

To ensure the credibility of this voluntary database, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons' National Database Audit and Validation Sub-Committee has been working during the past year to update and expand the group practice-based indicators used to assess the completeness, accuracy, and generalizability of the Adult Cardiac National Database. With increasing frequency, questions have been raised by third-party payers and regional/state-based groups as to the integrity of the data retained in the Adult Cardiac National Database. To work in conjunction with the Audit and Validation Sub-Committee to explicitly examine these issues, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons initiated a new Expert Advisory Panel review mechanism. This article describes the expanded data completeness and quality criteria that will be implemented in the coming year and summarizes the Expert Advisory Panel's recommendations for improvement. (C) 1998 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.