OHDSI Global Symposium 2025 is coming, and so is Vocabulathon!
One of the topics we are going to discuss is “What to do with procedure modifiers”. The problem space has already been discussed a lot above, so let me quickly summarize it for you. In RWD we very often see that some events, most commonly procedures, contain extra records/codes assigned to them. These codes are often referred to as modifiers and contain information that falls into many different categories. Some examples are given in Alexander’s message above.
In the CDM there is only one field for modifiers, modifier_concept_id, and it is present only in the Procedure table. But the information that appears in the data may belong to many other domains and can be classified as a separate event in OMOP CDM. On top of that, there are cases where one procedure in the data can contain more than one modifier.
One example to give you a small heart attack: according to our preliminary research, in some databases up to 10% of records contain the CPT4 JW modifier, which is used to indicate waste. Incorrect usage of this modifier may significantly affect dose and cost calculations and even result in wrong drug assignments to patients.
Call for action:
If you want to help solve this problem, please indicate your interest by replying to this message. This topic will be discussed during the Vocabulathon in an online/hybrid format. We are looking for use cases and engaged people to solve it. If you are also interested in presenting this topic in person, your help would be greatly appreciated.