Coverage uncertainty range: A new method for calculating uncertainty around summary statistics in healthcare quality indicators

Abstract

Data from clinical health registries, such as medical quality registries, are often used as basis for healthcare quality indicators (QI). To aid the interpretation of quality indicators and support decisions, it is important to quantify the uncertainty around the QI summary statistics. In this paper we suggest a novel method for quantifying such uncertainty: the Coverage uncertainty range. The method is based on the size of the population present in the register relative to the total relevant population and does not make any assumptions about the sampling strategy or the value of the summary statistic. Furthermore, using both simulated data and real-life data from a Norwegian medical quality registry, we illustrate why using confidence intervals when presenting healthcare quality indicators may lead to erroneous conclusions.