Delaware Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES)
In 1999, The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA) awarded the Division of Public Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) a grant to develop a Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) in Delaware. The Delaware CODES Project represents a collaborative effort among several state agencies committed to reducing the number of deaths and injuries occurring on our highways. The CODES project offer a foray into the integration of data by linking data from the State Police and the Emergency Medical Service Providers with hospital data, which includes severity of injury and cost of care. Gaining a more thorough understanding of the causes and impacts, (both health and financial), of motor vehicle crashes will better enable the Delaware Division of Public Health to create and prescribe prevention programs with demonstrated potential for improved outcomes.
Delaware CODES linked data system makes it possible to trace an individual person involved in motor vehicle crashes from the crash scene through the pre-hospital setting, and through the hospital to their injury outcomes on Delaware roadways. It is essential to have person, injury, and crash information to develop and evaluate prevention strategies for motor vehicle related injury.
What Does a Model CODES Include?
- Crash Data
In Delaware, police officers investigate motor vehicle crashes using the same paper report, the Uniform Traffic Collision Report (UTCR), to collect information (no self-reporting procedures). The report form includes fields for coding information on the time, location, characteristics, and environment of crashes. Data describing the vehicles and drivers involved in crashes are collected on all crashes. Information is collected on injured persons involved in the crash using a separate form-the Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report: Injury Information report. In order for a crash to be coded in the electronic database as a reportable crash, it must occur on a publicly maintained roadway and involve and injured person or have property damage greater than a certain amount (See table below).
| YEAR | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Damage amount greater than | $1,200 | $1,300 | $1,400 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
- Hospital Discharge Data
In accordance with the Uniform Health Data Act, all hospitals (except the Veterans Administration Hospital) in Delaware are required to submit discharge data to the Delaware Health Statistics Center (DHSC), a branch of Delaware Health and Social Services, forty-five days after the close of each quarter. There is 100% compliance among the hospitals. The data submitted include the standard administrative data from the Universal Billing Form 92 (UB 92). The data collected by DHSC include information related to diagnoses, procedures, charges, length of stay, patient demographic information, and discharge status. - Emergency Medical Services Data
The EMS Data Information Network (EDIN) system collects EMS report data electronically on a real-time basis and provides administrators with a powerful resource management and research tool. The EDIN system collects, at minimum, over 130 data points covering the demographic assessment and treatment phases of an EMS incident. The EDIN system has been online since January 1, 2000. Since it's inception, over 250,000 records have been entered into the system. Currently, all of the Advanced Life Support agencies in Delaware are using the system on a full-time basis. Of the 58 volunteer Basic Life Support agencies, almost all are using the system on either a full time or partial basis.
CODES Linkage Theory
The data linkage enables identification a person from the scene of a crash through hospitalization. The probabilistic linkage process assigns a weight based on the comparison of the common information of every record pair in two data files, such as date of crash, age, gender, etc. The value of the total weight is used to determine the same person from the two data files. CODES2000 software was developed to perform the linkage. You can receive more information about the software at: www.CODES2000FORUM.com.
Management Reports
The annual Delaware CODES Management Reports present descriptive statistics about specific outcomes associated with motor vehicle crashes. Its primary purpose is to serve as a management-planning tool that can be used for problem identification and targeted research. The following list is the eight population risk groups in the 2002 reports.
- All Drivers
- Young Drivers (ages 15-24)
- Elderly Drivers (ages 65 and older)
- Drinking Drivers
- Injured Child Passengers (ages 0-8)
- Motorcyclists
- Bicyclists
- Pedestrians
For More Information
- National Center for Statistics and Analysis CODES page
- State CODES program links:
| Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Connecticut | Delaware |
| Georgia | Hawaii | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa |
| Kentucky | Maine | Massachusetts | Minnesota | Missouri |
| Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Mexico | New York |
| Ohio | Pennsylvania | Oklahoma | Rhode Island | South Carolina |
| South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Virginia |
| Wisconsin |
For more information, please contact the program office.
