What is the difference between the 97 and 98 codes for "choose not to disclose" and "unknown"?
If you do not have RELC (race, ethnicity, language and country of origin) data in your medical record for a patient, please leave that field blank in the data file for the DDS measures.
Codes 97/ 997 should only be used when a patient answers that they do not want to disclose their race/ethnicity, language or country of origin.
Codes 98/998 should only be used when a patient answers that they do not know their race/ethnicity, language or country of origin.
If any of these elements are not collected, leave those columns blank on the spreadsheet.
Please see the RELC handbook and REL specifications posted on our corporate site for more information.