Back

The Incomplete Picture of Mortality within Electronic Health Records 

---

For healthcare entities, effective decision-making hinges on the quality and accessibility of comprehensive patient data. These organizations, including hospitals, life sciences innovators, and research organizations, rely on complete patient information to manage operations, inform clinical decisions, and measure patient outcomes. 

However, when tracking and understanding patient mortality, many organizations are operating with a significant data deficit. While analysts are generally aware of this gap when using aggregated medical claims data (< 20% of deaths), or the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (< 20% of deaths), these entities may not be aware of the mortality gap in Electronic Health Records (EHR). 

 Comprehensive Mortality Data Is Not Negotiable  

Complete and timely mortality data is essential for healthcare entities seeking to achieve critical business objectives: 

• Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction: Health systems and payers need to identify deceased individuals to remove them from patient communications, prevent unnecessary administrative tasks, and ensure accurate billing practices 

• Population Health Management: Covered entities designing effective population health models and risk-based interventions must have a full, precise understanding of their patient population’s health status, which necessitates accurate mortality tracking 

• Real-World Evidence (RWE) Validation: Researchers and life sciences companies require comprehensive mortality data to accurately measure patient health outcomes and validate RWE studies. 

The Gap in an EHR’s Mortality Data Harms Health Systems 

Many health systems rely on internal EHR data to understand mortality rates within their patient populations. This reliance is problematic, as this data represents an incomplete source of mortality information. 

Mortality information is typically recorded in an EHR when a patient dies during in-patient care, including hospice. The critical issue is that most patients do not die in a clinical setting, and therefore, EHRs may not have complete mortality records. 

A study from UCLA confirms the severity of this discrepancy, finding that 1 in 5 seriously ill patients who were believed to be alive in their medical records were actually deceased when they checked against an external mortality source. This level of inaccuracy directly leads to flawed risk stratification, increased administrative spending, and lost revenue for the health system. 

Aggregated EHR Data Has a Larger Mortality Gap 

In addition to the mortality gap in EHR data available within a health system, aggregated, deidentified EHR data available to life sciences companies and researchers has an even larger gap. In an analysis of mortality records available through even very large aggregators of EHR data across health systems, Veritas found that less than 10% of the deaths in our national database could be found in aggregated EHR data, and less than 2.2% of deaths in our national database could only be found in EHRs (i.e. not in the SSA DMF, obituaries, claims, or other sources of Veritas mortality records).  

	Present in Aggregated EHRs	Unique to Aggregated EHRs
2016	3.6%	0.6%
2017	4.7%	0.8%
2018	5.7%	1.1%
2019	6.2%	1.2%
2020	6.6%	1.3%
2021	7.1%	1.5%
2022	7.7%	1.8%
2023	8.3%	2.0%
2024	8.9%	2.2%
2025	6.8%	1.8%

Providing the Complete Mortality Data Solution 

Veritas Data Research recognizes the substantial impact this missing mortality information has on clinical research and administrative effectiveness. We are committed to providing complete, validated mortality data in an accessible and affordable manner. 

Our solutions deliver the comprehensive mortality data required to: 

1. Reduce unnecessary administrative costs by ensuring records and outreach are accurate 

2. Drive better clinical outcomes through precise population health management 

3. Validate RWE and strengthen the integrity of research initiatives 

Do not allow incomplete EHR data to compromise your understanding of your patient population, your operational efficiency, or the accuracy of your research. 

If you are interested in learning more about our complete mortality data solutions, please contact us or reach out directly at sales@veritasdataresearch.com.