MedCoder - Coding literal text cause of death information reported on death certificates to ICD-10

Overview

Development stage

DeployedSource: c) Deployed – The use case is being actively authorized or utilized to support the functions or mission of an agency.

High-impact designation

Not high-impactSource: c) Not high-impact

Impact justification

Not reported

Start date

2022-06 (month precision)Source: Jun-22

Withheld from public reporting

NoSource: a) No

Mission

Topic area

Health and Medical

Operational functions

No function tag matched Derived by keyword rules; see methodology

Problem the AI is intended to solve

Automating the coding of literal text causes of death from death certificates to ICD-10 codes, improving accuracy, efficiency, and timeliness of mortality data for public health surveillance.

Expected benefits

MedCoder increased the percentage of deaths that can be automatically and accurately coded from 70-75% to over 85%, resulting in substantial cost savings (hundreds of thousands of dollars) and significantly enhancing the timeliness of data for urgent public health concerns (e.g., COVID, drug overdose deaths), enabling near real-time surveillance.

System outputs

MedCoder outputs ICD-10 cause of death codes from literal text on death certificates. It also flags complex or frequently miscoded cases for manual review. The system uses NLP to cleanse and standardize input text before coding.

Technology

AI classification

Natural language processingSource: Natural Language Processing: AI that processes, interprets, and shares information in human language.

System name(s)

National Vital Statistics System (NVSS)

Custom-developed code

Yes

Public source code

Not reported

Sourcing

How it was built

Developed in-houseSource: b) Developed in-house

Vendor (as reported)

Not reported

Vendors (standardized)

None on the standard list

A vendor is the supplier named by the agency. It does not identify the underlying model or AI technology.

Data and privacy

Involves PII

No

Privacy Impact Assessment

Not reported

Authorization to Operate

Yes

Demographic features

b) Sex

Training and evaluation data

Death certificate literal text data, including cause of death statements, and associated demographic information such as sex. Documentation for model training and evaluation data is widely available.

Federal Data Catalog

Not reported

Governance

0 of 8 minimum-practice questions answered. A blank answer means the agency reported nothing; it does not mean the practice is absent.

Potential impacts and how they were identified

Not reported