EHR Data Analytics & Population Health 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept describes combining data from multiple EHR systems into a single unified patient record for longitudinal analysis?
- Data federation
- Master Patient Index (MPI)
- Patient matching and record linkage (Correct answer)
- Data tokenization
Correct answer: Patient matching and record linkage
Record linkage algorithms match and merge patient records across disparate systems using identifiers and probabilistic matching to create a unified longitudinal view.
Question 2: A sensitivity analysis in a population health study is performed to:
- Identify sensitive PHI fields in the dataset
- Test how results change when key assumptions are varied (Correct answer)
- Measure test sensitivity of a diagnostic code
- Assess HIPAA compliance of the data pipeline
Correct answer: Test how results change when key assumptions are varied
Sensitivity analysis evaluates the robustness of study conclusions by varying key assumptions or inputs to see how much outcomes change.
Question 3: In population health, 'attribution' refers to the process of:
- Crediting a clinician's medical school in the EHR
- Assigning patients to a specific provider or care team for accountability (Correct answer)
- Linking ICD codes to clinical concepts
- Documenting the source system of imported data
Correct answer: Assigning patients to a specific provider or care team for accountability
Attribution assigns responsibility for a patient's outcomes to a specific physician or practice, enabling accurate performance measurement.
Question 4: Which type of analysis examines the relationship between two continuous clinical variables, such as BMI and HbA1c?
- Chi-square test
- Correlation analysis (Correct answer)
- Kaplan-Meier survival analysis
- Frequency distribution
Correct answer: Correlation analysis
Correlation analysis (e.g., Pearson or Spearman) quantifies the strength and direction of the relationship between two continuous variables.
Question 5: What is the role of a Master Patient Index (MPI) in a health system's data analytics environment?
- Encrypt all patient records at rest
- Provide a unique enterprise-wide identifier for each patient across systems (Correct answer)
- Store aggregate population statistics
- Manage provider access controls to the EHR
Correct answer: Provide a unique enterprise-wide identifier for each patient across systems
The MPI assigns and maintains a single enterprise identifier per patient, enabling accurate cross-system data linkage and de-duplication.
Question 6: A population health dashboard shows a 'funnel chart' for a diabetes management program. What does each stage of the funnel typically represent?
- Monthly cost trends for the program
- Sequential care steps showing patient drop-off at each stage (Correct answer)
- Provider panel sizes by specialty
- Drug adherence grouped by formulary tier
Correct answer: Sequential care steps showing patient drop-off at each stage
Funnel charts in care programs illustrate how many patients progress through each step—such as identified, contacted, enrolled, and controlled—revealing where patients fall out.
Question 7: Which HL7 standard is most commonly used for exchanging laboratory results electronically between a lab system and an EHR?
- HL7 v2 ORU (Observation Result Unsolicited) message (Correct answer)
- FHIR R4 Appointment resource
- X12 837 transaction set
- DICOM SR (Structured Report)
Correct answer: HL7 v2 ORU (Observation Result Unsolicited) message
The HL7 v2 ORU^R01 message is the industry-standard transaction for transmitting lab results from laboratory information systems to EHRs.
EHR Data Analytics & Population Health 4
Which concept describes combining data from multiple EHR systems into a single unified patient record for longitudinal analysis?