Identifying Patients for Clinical Studies from Electronic Health Records: TREC Medical Records Track at OHSU

The task of the TREC 2011 Medical Records Track consisted of searching electronic health record (EHR) documents in order to identify patients matching a set of clinical criteria, a use case that might be part of the preparation of a quality report or to develop a cohort for a clinical trial. The task’s various topics each represented a different case definition, with the topics varying widely in terms of detail and linguistic complexity. This use case is one of a larger group that represent the “secondary use” of data in EHRs [1] that facilitate clinical research, quality improvement, and other aspects of a health care system that can “learn” from its data and outcomes [2]. It is made possible by the large US government investment in EHR adoption that has occurred since 2009 [3].