Welcome to the Quality Data Abstractor Association (QDAA)
The idea for the Quality Data Abstractor Association didn’t begin in a boardroom—it began with questions.
When I became a data abstractor, I was fortunate to be trained by an incredible mentor named Deb just before her retirement. She possessed decades of knowledge, and I absorbed everything she taught me, filling notebooks with tips, explanations, and my own “cheat sheets.” I also had the support of another experienced stroke abstractor and an amazing supervisor who were always willing to help. Like most abstractors, I relied heavily on the registry guidelines, even though they were often vague and left room for interpretation.
For years, I believed this was simply how abstraction worked.
That changed when I began working with multiple healthcare organizations as a contract abstractor. I quickly realized that the same medical record could be interpreted very differently depending on the organization—or even the individual abstractor reviewing it. Every team had developed its own processes, traditions, and interpretations of the guidelines. Some practices were excellent, while others had simply been passed from one abstractor to the next without ever being challenged.
I found myself constantly searching for answers. I researched guideline updates, compared interpretations, and brought questions back to my own team. More than anything, I wanted a place where abstractors from different organizations could discuss difficult cases, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.
But that place didn’t exist.
I searched for forums, message boards, professional communities—anything where abstractors could collaborate. I found very little. The idea of building a community stayed with me for years, but as a single mother working multiple jobs, life understandably took priority, and the dream was placed on the shelf.
When I joined Layer Health, that vision came back stronger than ever.
Working alongside abstractors, clinicians, engineers, and health systems across the country reinforced something I had suspected all along: while registries have guidelines, there is no true standardization in how abstractors are trained. Guideline updates are not always communicated consistently. Interpretations vary widely. Valuable knowledge often remains isolated within individual organizations instead of being shared with the profession as a whole.
As I shared this vision with my friend and fellow abstractor, Kate, our conversations quickly turned into planning sessions. We realized we had experienced many of the same frustrations and shared the same belief: this is exactly what the abstraction profession needs. Together, we envisioned a welcoming community where abstractors could connect across organizations, ask questions without fear of judgment, share knowledge openly, and learn from one another. That shared vision became the foundation of the Quality Data Abstractor Association.
The Quality Data Abstractor Association (QDAA) was created to become that place—a professional community built by abstractors, for abstractors.
Our mission is simple: to create a collaborative environment where abstractors can ask questions, share knowledge, discuss challenging cases, learn from one another, stay current with evolving guidelines, and ultimately improve the quality, consistency, and integrity of healthcare data.
Whether you are just beginning your journey or have decades of experience, your knowledge matters. Every question asked strengthens our profession. Every lesson shared improves healthcare data, quality reporting, and ultimately patient care.
Our hope is that QDAA becomes the community we spent years searching for—a place where no abstractor has to figure it all out alone.
Welcome. We’re honored you’re here.
Get in Touch
We are here to support one another and foster connections within the abstractor community.
admin@qdaa.org