ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1549032
This article is part of the Research TopicWorld Hepatitis Day 2024: Advancing Hepatitis Elimination, Public Health Strategies and InnovationsView all 18 articles
Feasibility of Data Extraction and Evaluation with BeoNet-Halle: Outcomes and Data Quality in Hepatitis B and C Screenings
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
BackgroundTo support the global hepatitis strategy, the Federal Joint Committee in Germany introduced a one-time hepatitis screening within the 'Check-Up 35' program on October 1, 2021. Targeting individuals aged 35 and older, this preventive check-up aims to detect common diseases early. This study examines the feasibility of using the BeoNet-Halle database to characterize patients screened for hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), focusing on screening volumes, billing codes, and data completeness. Methods We analyzed electronic medical records from all 11 practices contributing to the BeoNet network during the observation period from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2023. The analysis focused on antibody and antigen tests, HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA tests, and billing codes (01734, 01744, 01865, 01866, 01867) to assess screening volumes, data completeness, and costs. Data completeness was evaluated by mapping the BeoNet dataset to the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) Core Dataset.ResultsOf the potentially eligible population (32,213 patients aged ≥35), 10% underwent HBV and HCV screening as part of Check-Up 35. Screened individuals had more practice contacts (mean ± SD: 22.1 ± 19.8 vs. 11.1 ± 17.7; w = 0.3) and more chronic conditions (mean ± SD: 6.9 ± 5.6 vs. 5.8 ± 6.2; w = 0.03) than the eligible practice population. Screening identified 20 new cases (0.6%), with practice-level screening rates ranging from 2.5% to 42.6%.Billing code 01734 was documented in 81.5% of cases with laboratory test billing codes (01865-01867) missing in 5 of the 11 practice management systems (PMS). The BeoNet laboratory dataset provided full coverage for test identifiers (100%) and strong documentation of result interpretations (98.7%), but had limited coverage for reference range (60.4%) and test collection dates (9.1%).ConclusionsImproving data quality and billing documentation in the BeoNet database could enhance screening accuracy and resource allocation, supporting better outcomes in hepatitis screening practices.
Keywords: BeoNet-Halle, General Practice, Hepatitis, screening, Electronic Medical Records, feasibility
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 28 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Moser, Bauch, Brütting and Frese. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Konstantin Moser, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.