Comparison of two methods of collecting healthcare usage data in chiropractic clinics: patient-report versus documentati
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RESEARCH
CHIROPRACTIC & MANUAL THERAPIES
Open Access
Comparison of two methods of collecting healthcare usage data in chiropractic clinics: patient-report versus documentation in patient files Taco Houweling1*, Jennifer Bolton2 and David Newell2
Abstract Background: The use of patient-reported questionnaires to collect information on costs associated with routine healthcare services, such as chiropractic, represents a less labour intensive alternative to retrieving these data from patient files. The aim of this paper was to compare patient-report versus patient files for the collection of data describing healthcare usage in chiropractic clinics. Methods: As part of a prospective single cohort multi-centre study, data on the number of visits made to chiropractic clinics determined using patient-reported questionnaires or as recorded in patient files were compared three months following the start of treatment. These data were analysed for agreement using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the 95% Limits of Agreement. Results: Eighty-nine patients that had undergone chiropractic care were included in the present study. The two methods yielded an ICC of 0.83 (95% CI = 0.75 to 0.88). However, there was a significant difference between the data collection methods, with an average of 0.6 (95% CI = 0.25 to 1.01) additional visits reported in patient files. The 95% Limits of Agreement ranged from 3 fewer visits to 4 additional visits in patient files relative to the number of visits recalled by patients. Conclusion: There was some discrepancy between the number of visits made to the clinic recalled by patients compared to the number recorded in patient files. This should be taken into account in future evaluations of costs of treatments. Keywords: Patient care, Health services, Health care costs, Cost measures, Chiropractic, Complementary therapies, Questionnaires, Data collection, Clinic visits
Background In a climate of increasing healthcare costs and limited budgets, calculating the costs of caring for patients constitutes an essential component of healthcare evaluations. This information can assist patients and clinicians in making treatment-related decisions as well as policy-makers in allocating resources [1]. Two types of data are needed in order to calculate the cost of an intervention. Firstly, the cost of one unit of each resource (i.e. unit cost), which can be obtained from national cost tariffs, and secondly, * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 University Hospital Balgrist, Forchstrasse 340, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
the amount of resources used to provide that care. Resource usage data should be collected using validated measurement methods so as to produce robust study findings. There are different methods of collecting resource usage data including patient-reported questionnaires and diaries as well as patient records [2]. A drawback of obtaining this information from patient records is the difficulty in acces
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