A model CODES consists of linked statewide crash and injury data that match vehicle, crash, and human behavior characteristics to their specific medical and financial outcomes. Data related to motor vehicle crashes are located in multiple sources: crash data collected by police at the scene; EMS data collected by EMTs who provide treatment at the scene and enroute; medical data collected by physicians, nurses and others who provide treatment at the emergency department, in the hospital, or outpatient setting. Additional state data such as driver licensing, vehicle registration, citation/conviction records, insurance claims, HMO/managed care/etc. outpatient record data are also useful for linkage to meet State objectives.
As a minimum, states must have computerized statewide crash, hospital, and either EMS or emergency department data that have sufficient information to discriminate among the crash events and persons involved in each event.
State data are linked using probabilistic linkage technology which facilitates the linkage of state data files that are frequently imperfect. This technology identifies valid matches without requiring exact matches among the attribute variables and is capable of processing a phenomenal amount of data in a short amount of time. Data linkage has the side benefit of highlighting missing and inaccurate data which when corrected make state data more credible.
A model CODES depends upon an Advisory Committee consisting of the owners and major users of the state data to collaboratively resolve issues related to data access, patient confidentiality, management and release of the linked data and institutionalization of CODES.
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