Towards Health Information Integration

Towards Health Information Integration

Abstract

Background: While data based on health statistics (S-data) provide a summarized view of the health of a general population, data based on electronic health records (EHR-data) provide information about individual patients. Serving fairly different purposes, the two approaches to health information have evolved more or less independently. However, various benefits of using EHR-data in connection with public health issues have been identified and discussed. Objectives: The conceptual differences between these two approaches and the potential benefits of integration are discussed. A schematic illustration of the integration of EHR-data and S-data is outlined to analyze an integration scenario. Methods: As a test case we used reimbursement data of the Main Association of Austrian Social Security Institutions (EHR-data) and Austrian data of the European Community Health Survey (S-data). The time frame considered was restricted to the period from 2006 to 2007, and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Austria was selected as the exemplary subject of interest. Results: With respect to specific medical concepts, comparisons between EHR-data and S-data are clearly feasible. EHR-data are potentially valid substitutes of S-data and can provide detailed evidence for health reporting. For diabetes the difference of the prevalence between EHR-data and S-Data was only 1% for whole Austria. Conclusions: The pilot study yielded encouraging results. With respect to specific medical concepts, comparisons between EHR-data and S-data are clearly feasible. EHR-data are potentially valid to substitute or supplement surveys and can provide detailed evidence for health reporting. Keywords: Epidemiological research, public health, electronic health records, data analysis

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Authors
  • Gall, Walter
  • Dorda, Wolfgang
  • Duftschmid, Georg
  • Engel, Gottfried
  • Fröschl, Karl Anton
  • Grossmann, Wilfired
  • Hronsky, Milan
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Shortfacts
Category
Paper in Conference Proceedings or in Workshop Proceedings (Paper)
Event Title
9th International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Health
Divisions
Data Analytics and Computing
Event Location
Samos
Event Type
Conference
Event Dates
Juli 2011
Date
2011
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