Using registry data to improve quality of care.

Patient registries provide clinicians, patients and families with the ability to track important health outcomes at a population, cystic fibrosis (CF) center, and patient level. International quality improvement (QI) work driven by registries has been effective at improving the health and the care delivered to the individual patient. In this review, we examine the role CF registries have played in the QI process over the years and discuss the inherent strengths and limitations that exist when using registry data for this purpose.