Strengths

HDRC has the following strengths when you consider doing health data research in Asia

Real World Evidence

  • Single payer, consolidated health insurance claims, capturing all reimbursed items.
  • Linkage with Cancer Registry and Mortality.

Rich data in comparison with private health insurance data in North America

  • Low membership turnover rate.
  • Detailed drug use information during hospitalization.
  • Some over-the-counter medication, such as low dose aspirin, are reimbursed and captured in NHI.

Research capability

  • Experienced investigators and analysts who are familiar with the data structure and medical care system in Taiwan
  • Examples of methods being used in recent studies:
    • propensity scores
    • Cox regression with time-dependent covariates
    • nested case-control study
    • self-controlled case series design  
    • case-crossover design
    • interrupted time series analysis
Standard operating procedures and codes have been developed for the operational definitions of exposures, outcomes, and potential confounders.
You may also want to know…
Q
Is there any validation study on NHI claims data?
A
Yes, there are. Here are some examples (not systematically searched).

1. Cheng, C. L., Kao, Y. H., Lin, S. J., Lee, C. H., & Lai, M. L. (2011). Validation of the National Health Insurance Research Database with ischemic stroke cases in Taiwan. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf, 20(3), 236-242. doi:10.1002/pds.2087

2. Cheng, C. L., Lee, C. H., Chen, P. S., Li, Y. H., Lin, S. J., & Yang, Y. H. (2014). Validation of acute myocardial infarction cases in the national health insurance research database in Taiwan. J Epidemiol, 24(6), 500-507. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25174915

3. Sung, S. F., Hsieh, C. Y., Lin, H. J., Chen, Y. W., Yang, Y. H., & Li, C. Y. (2016). Validation of algorithms to identify stroke risk factors in patients with acute ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, or intracerebral hemorrhage in an administrative claims database. Int J Cardiol, 215, 277-282. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2016.04.069

Q
Can the claims datasets link with electronic medical records?
A
They are not yet.