A New Method for Database Data Quality Evaluation at the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Information quality (IQ) problems can have severe consequences in the health care sector. Since its inception, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has recognized the importance of information quality and has implemented a new method designed to evaluate the data quality of the numerous CIHI data holdings. The goal of evaluation is to identify data quality priorities for the purpose of data quality improvement. To date, six database evaluations have been conducted and it appears that the evaluation process has been successful in meeting its primary objective. It is concluded that the new method is a useful tool for data quality improvement, especially in the health care sector where data quality improvement can result in better health information and, ultimately, better health.