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[The introduction of the electronic health card in Germany].

From 2006 onwards all members of the health insurance system in Germany will be issued an electronic health card which will replace the current health insurance card. The new health card will be technically upgraded to also include patient-related health data or provide access to such data in addition to its administrative functions. Therefore, it is evident that the health card be fitted with a microprocessor that permits authentication (electronic identity check), encryption and the electronic digital signature, thus ensuring maximum data safety and security. For easy identification of the insured person, the electronic health card will bear a photograph of the card holder.

Computer Communication Networks↗

A secure web-based approach for accessing transitional health information for people with traumatic brain injury.

A web-based transitional health record was created to provide regional healthcare professionals with ubiquitous access to information on people with brain injuries as they move through the healthcare system. Participants included public, private, and community healthcare organizations/providers in Eastern Ontario (Canada). One hundred and nineteen service providers and 39 brain injury survivors registered over 6 months. Fifty-eight percent received English and 42% received bilingual services (English-French). Public health providers contacted the regional service coordinator more than private providers (52% urban centres, 26% rural service providers, and 22% both areas). Thirty-five percent of contacts were for technical difficulties, 32% registration inquiries, 21% forms and processes, 6% resources, and 6% education. Seventeen technical enquiries required action by technical support personnel: 41% digital certificates, 29% web forms, and 12% log-in. This web-based approach to clinical information sharing provided access to relevant data as clients moved through or re-entered the health system. Improvements include automated digital certificate management, institutional health records system integration, and more referral tracking tools. More sensitive test data could be accessed on-line with increasing consumer/clinician confidence. In addition to a strong technical infrastructure, human resource issues are a major information security component and require continuing attention to ensure a viable on-line information environment.

Brain Injuries↗

HIPAA--Implications for research.

Privacy, anonymity, and informed consent are the hallmarks of current research conduct. How do the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations regarding individually identified health information and protected health information affect research? The purpose of this article is to discuss ways that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is influencing the conduct of research, including the implications for institutional review boards, recruitment of subjects, obtaining consent, access to data, de-identification of data, authorization to disclose data, and the processing, transmission, and storage of collected data.

Access to Information↗

Estimates of maternal mortality by the sisterhood method in rural nothern Tanzania: a household sample and an antenatal clinic sample.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate maternal mortality in two samples of a population in northern Tanzania. SETTING: Rural communities and antenatal clinics, Mbulu and Hanang districts, Arusha region, Tanzania. POPULATION: From a household survey 2,043 men and women aged 15-60, and from an antenatal clinic survey 4,172 women aged 15-59. METHOD: The indirect sisterhood method. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The risk of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (maternal mortality ratio), and the lifetime risk of a maternal death. RESULTS: The risk of a maternal death per 100,000 live births was 362 (95% CI 269-456) and 444 (95% CI 371-517) for the household and antenatal clinic surveys, respectively. The lifetime risk of maternal death was 1 in 38 and 1 in 31, respectively, for the two surveys. A significantly lower risk of maternal death was observed for the respondents attending antenatal clinics closer to the hospital than for those attending clinics further away: 325 (95% CI 237-413) compared with 561 (95% CI 446-677) per 100,000 live births. Lifetime risk of maternal death was 1 in 42 and 1 in 25, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of maternal death per 100,000 live births in this area were comparatively high, but in our survey substantially lower than in previous surveys in Tanzania. Increasing distance from the antenatal clinics to the hospital was associated with higher maternal mortality. There was no significant difference between results based on household and antenatal clinic data, suggesting that accessible health facility data using the sisterhood method may provide a basis for local assessment of maternal mortality in developing countries.

Adolescent↗

Constitutive and induced trehalose transport mechanisms in spores of the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria.

Trehalose is absorbed by two distinct systems-one constitutive, the other induced by turanose and to a lesser extent by nigerose but not by trehalose. The constitutive system is apparently mediated by a surface trehalase; the induced system has the characteristics of a permease. The specificity of the induced system is apparently limited to the alpha glucosyl-glucose or glucosyl-fructose linkage, because absorption of kojibiose, nigerose, maltose, isomaltose, turanose, sucrose, and melezitose, in addition to that of trehalose, was increased. Absorption of beta-linked or of galactose-containing disaccharides was not increased. The constitutive and induced trehalose-absorbing systems differ in their activity, specificity, lability to acid treatment, effects of substrate concentration, and pH optima. Both systems require oxygen, and no marked differential effects of inhibitors were observed. The activity of the induced system is proportional to log turanose concentration (from about 1 to 300 mug/ml), and is an approximate linear function of time of exposure (from about 1 to 50 min). Accumulation of trehalose occurred against a concentration gradient in both systems but particularly in the induced. No leakage was observed. The activity of the induced system declined slowly upon removal of the inducer. Accumulated trehalose is metabolized after activation by azide as are the endogenous trehalose reserves. The accumulated trehalose appears to enter the endogenous trehalose pool found in these spores, although some data suggest it may be more accessible. Respiratory data indicate that absorbed trehalose is available for metabolism while in transit from the external membrane to the internal pool.

Chromatography, Paper↗

The changing epidemiology of human hookworm infection in Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To document the distribution of human hookworm infection in Australia. DESIGN: A retrospective study of published data and accessible archival records. METHODS: The core data were derived from the report of the Australian Hookworm Campaign, annual reports of various State health departments and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and unpublished files of the former Queensland Aboriginal Health Programme. FINDINGS: Today, hookworm infection is endemic only among Aboriginal communities of northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where Ancylostoma duodenale may be the sole species. Early this century, infection was also established in Queensland and northern New South Wales, in both Aboriginal and white communities, and Necator americanus predominated. The origin of these parasites is obscure. Sustained control programs seem to have eradicated hookworms from Queensland. CONCLUSIONS: Improved sanitation, hygiene and chemotherapy have eliminated hookworms from white populations of Australia. Continued anthelminthic campaigns will also clear the parasites from Aboriginal communities, but unless living conditions improve significantly infection will recur.

Ancylostomiasis↗

Electronic patient record and archive of records in Cardio.net system for telecardiology.

In modern medicine the well structured patient data set, fast access to it and reporting capability become an important question. With the dynamic development of information technology (IT) such question is solved via building electronic patient record (EPR) archives. We then obtain fast access to patient data, diagnostic and treatment protocols etc. It results in more efficient, better and cheaper treatment. The aim of the work was to design a uniform Electronic Patient Record, implemented in cardio.net system for telecardiology allowing the co-operation among regional hospitals and reference centers. It includes questionnaires for demographic data and questionnaires supporting doctor's work (initial diagnosis, final diagnosis, history and physical, ECG at the discharge, applied treatment, additional tests, drugs, daily and periodical reports). The browser is implemented in EPR archive to facilitate data retrieval. Several tools for creating EPR and EPR archive were used such as: XML, PHP, Java Script and MySQL. The separate question is the security of data on WWW server. The security is ensured via Security Socket Layer (SSL) protocols and other tools. EPR in Cardio.net system is a module enabling the co-work of many physicians and the communication among different medical centers.

Archives↗

Manufacturer's drug interaction and postmarketing adverse event data: what are appropriate uses?

Governmental agencies overseeing pharmaceutical products use a risk/benefit approach to analyse data and make regulatory decisions. Comprehensive public dissemination of the safety profile of pharmaceutical products is part of an overall strategy for reducing risk associated with the use of any medical product. In the US, reports of postmarketing surveillance of approved drugs are in the public domain. Some, but not all, of the information in drug interaction studies is available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, there are concerns over the misuse of these data for commercial or other gain. The need to protect intellectual property and foster innovation in drug development, and concerns of legal liability are often cited as reasons to limit full public access to data from drug development studies. In contrast, intellectual freedom. public safety, and a mandate for transparent decision-making processes by regulatory agencies are issues that support open access to these data. Ultimately. concern for the public safety justifies open access to postmarketing surveillance data, and to a lesser degree, data regarding drug interactions in marketed products, and should outweigh the potential loss of competitive advantage by pharmaceutical companies.

Access to Information↗

Exchange of Veterans Affairs medical data using national and local networks.

Remote data exchange is extremely useful to a number of medical applications. It requires an infrastructure including systems, network and software tools. With such an infrastructure, existing local applications can be extended to serve national needs. There are many approaches to providing remote data exchange. Selection of an approach for an application requires balancing of various factors, including the need for rapid interactive access to data and ad hoc queries, the adequacy of access to predefined data sets, the need for an integrated view of the data, the ability to provide adequate security protection, the amount of data required, and the time frame in which data is required. The applications described here demonstrate new ways that the VA is reaping benefits from its infrastructure and its compatible integrated hospital information systems located at its facilities. The needs that have been met are also needs of private hospitals. However, in many cases the infrastructure to allow data exchange is not present. The VA's experiences may serve to establish the benefits that can be obtained by all hospitals.

CD-ROM↗

Access to health care. Part 2: Working-age adults.

OBJECTIVES: This report presents data on access to health care for U.S. working-age adults, 18-64 years old. Access indicators are examined by selected sociodemographic characteristics including sex, age, race and/or ethnicity, place of residence, employment status, income, health status, and health insurance status. METHODS: Data are from the 1993 Access to Care and 1993 Health Insurance Surveys of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a continuing household survey of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. The sample contained 61,287 persons in 24,071 households. RESULTS: In 1993, approximately 3 out of 4 working-age adults had a regular source of medical care. Nine out of 10 adults with health insurance had a regular source of care compared with 6 out of 10 adults without health insurance. For adults with a regular source of care, 86 percent received care in a private doctor's office, 9 percent in a clinic, and 2 percent in a hospital emergency room. The two main reasons given for not having a regular source of care were "do not need a doctor" (49 percent), and "no insurance can't afford it" (22 percent). Persons in the highest income group were more likely to report no need for a doctor (59 percent) than persons in the lowest income group (35 percent). About 40 percent of uninsured persons and 16 percent of insured persons reported an unmet medical need. CONCLUSIONS: Health insurance plays a key role in the access to medical care services. Persons who are uninsured or have low incomes are at the greatest risk of having unmet medical needs.

Adolescent↗

Access to physician treatment for a mental disorder: a regional analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study examined (1) disparities in the proportion of persons who accessed a physician for treatment of a diagnosed mental disorder across 17 health regions in Alberta, Canada, and (2) the extent to which regional disparities in physician access could be explained by differences in regional demographies, population needs, or physician supply. METHODS: The study illustrates the use of ecological comparisons for regional health system performance evaluations. Regional characteristics were aggregated from four sources of data: the health insurance registry file (population denominators and regional demographies), physician claims data (treatment access), census data (social indicators of population need), and the medical directory of the College of Physicians of Surgeons (physician supply). RESULTS: Regional variability in needs-adjusted measures of access to physician-based treatment services were comparatively small (varying by a factor of 1.6). Models containing adjustments for demography, need, and physician supply explained 41% of regional variation in access. Of the total variation explained, physician supply explained a smaller proportion (39%) in comparison to social demography and needs (61%). Few large regional imbalances were noted when needs-adjusted and supply-adjusted estimates were compared. Only two areas appeared to be underserviced in comparison to their local needs, reflecting approximately 6% of the provincial population. CONCLUSIONS: While all three study factors proved important, findings support the broad conclusion that social demography and social risk (a proxy for need) will remain the key determinants predicting access to physician services for treatment of mental disorders in publicly funded health systems.

Adult↗

The Mouse Tumor Biology Database: integrated access to mouse cancer biology data.

Mice have long been used as models for the study of human cancer. The National Cancer Institute has included among its research areas of extraordinary opportunity the development of new mouse genetic models of human cancer and the exploration of cancer imaging as a research tool. Because of the volume and interconnectedness of relevant data, the creation and maintenance of bioinformatics resources of mouse tumor biology is necessary to facilitate current and future cancer research. The Mouse Tumor Biology (MTB) Database provides electronic access to data generated through the study of spontaneous and induced tumors in genetically defined mice (inbred, hybrid, spontaneous and induced mutant, and genetically engineered strains of mice).

Animals↗

Epidemiology of hemodialysis vascular access infections from longitudinal infection surveillance data: predicting the impact of NKF-DOQI clinical practice guidelines for vascular access.

National Kidney Foundation-Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF-DOQI) Vascular Access Guidelines 29 (40% of prevalent patients should have a native fistula) and 30 (<10% use of catheters for chronic hemodialysis) are currently based on opinion, rather than published evidence. The impact of these guidelines on reducing vascular access infection rates is unknown and was tested using data from an outpatient prospective cohort analysis. Patients undergoing hemodialysis from January 1998 through December 2000 at six outpatient facilities in Idaho and Oregon were evaluated prospectively for vascular access infections. There were 111,383 dialysis sessions (DSs) with 471 infections identified (4.2 infections/1,000 DSs). The risk for infection relative to arteriovenous (AV) fistulae was highly dependent on type of access used: 2.2 (P = 0.002) for AV grafts, 13.6 (P < 0.0001) for tunneled catheters, and 32.6 (P < 0.0001) for temporary catheters. Based on incidence infection rates, the number of infections predicted to occur with implementation of guidelines 29 and 30 in this population was calculated, and the percentage of reduction in infection was determined. Following either guideline 29 or 30 alone would have predictably prevented 103 or 97 total infections (22% and 21% reduction) and 40 or 51 bloodstream infections (24% and 30% reduction), respectively. Following both guidelines simultaneously would have prevented 151 total infections (32% reduction) and 64 bloodstream infections (38% reduction). These epidemiological data firmly establish that a major risk for vascular access infections is the type of access used (temporary catheters > tunneled catheters > AV grafts > AV fistulae). Furthermore, they strongly support the role of these NKF-DOQI guidelines in preventing infectious complications attributed to vascular access.

Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical↗

The Swiss Hidden Population Study: practical and methodological aspects of data collection by privileged access interviewers.

In order to recruit heroin and/or cocaine users outside treatment settings, recruitment of subjects through Privileged Access Interviewers (PAI) was tested and implemented in the Swiss Hidden Population Study. This article discusses practical aspects of the PAI method as well as issues of reliability and validity. From June 1994 to June 1995, 31 Privileged Access Interviewers were recruited in the main regions of Switzerland. They conducted 943 standardized interviews altogether, of which 917 could be considered valid. Fifty-four per cent of the respondents correspond to the criteria of the target population. The PAI method collects reliable data in a relatively short amount of time, given adequate means of control. Analysis of the age distribution and of the patterns of drug use in our sample shows that the question of validity is mainly linked to the diversity of the milieus from which PAIs recruit the respondents. Encouraging PAIs to do as many interviews as possible did not skew the data. Hence, well-founded inferences on a PAI generated database relies on the analysis of qualitative information on the ways in which the Privileged Access Interviewers have recruited their respondents.

Adolescent↗

Cross-provincial use of cardiac services: the importance of data-sharing for clinical registries and outcomes research.

BACKGROUND: The structure of the Canadian health care system lends itself to health services and health outcomes research. It is possible to track hospital admissions and discharges, physician billings and prescriptions using administrative databases. In addition, several provinces have developed registries that provide detailed clinical and procedural information. Using the unique personal health numbers assigned to all Canadian residents, linkage between administrative databases and population-based clinical registries provides important information regarding the use of health services and health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent of cross-border (British Columbia-Alberta border) use of cardiac services by British Columbia residents. METHODS: Population rates of cardiac procedures were calculated using two prospective clinical registries (British Columbia Cardiac Registries and Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease [APPROACH]), as well as administrative databases (the British Columbia Ministry of Health's hospitalization and Medical Services Plan databases). RESULTS: Analyses using only British Columbia data suggest low cardiac procedure rates for patients living in eastern British Columbia. By accessing APPROACH data, it was determined that more than 80% of British Columbia cardiac patients living along the British Columbia-Alberta border access procedural services in Alberta. CONCLUSIONS: While residents of eastern British Columbia appear to have reduced access to cardiac services when data from British Columbia are analyzed in isolation, they are actually accessing care in Alberta. Analyses based solely on single province data sources will underestimate cardiac procedures rates.

Adult↗

[Conceptual and methodological basics of cost assessments in rheumatology].

Cost-of-illness studies in rheumatic conditions show an enormous variability in reported costs. Reasons are-among others-a lack of standardization with regards to relevant cost domains and the utilization of various insufficiently validated costing sources. A flow scheme is presented which may serve as a systematic basis for a valid costing analysis. The scheme includes: i) Selection of relevant cost domains. A comprehensive matrix of cost domains may be used as a framework. According to the specific aims of any costing study individual domains might be selected. ii) An adequate level of detail has to be determined taking into account factors such as the validity of the data collection and the feasibility. iii) Appropriate objective (i. e. usage of administrative data) or subjective (i. e. patient-derived) data sources have to be identified under consideration of respective strengths and weaknesses. While administrative sources provide a valid access to costing data accessibility and feasibility are important advantages of patient-derived costing procedures. iv) During data collection the potential bias due to protocol-driven costs and the differentiation of disease-related from other health care costs should be considered. v) The data analysis should support a transparent presentation of the costing data both in physical and monetary units. In summary, no 'gold standard' has been established for costing studies yet. However, valid costing approaches might follow the flow scheme presented in this analysis.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

Processing haematological data on a dedicated computer.

A system of processing the laboratory data of a busy haematology department serving a teaching group of hospitals and the general practitioners of the district is described. The system, which has been in routine use for over two years, is based on a dedicated CTL8030 computer sited in the laboratory utilising Lynwood visual display units (VDUs) for both input and access to the data files. Data from the Coulter 'S' is fed by an interface to the computer and to other data handling modules. Manual test results are entered via VDUs, mainly by laboratory staff who also validate all data. Access is available to all data for answering telephone requests. Data are retained on the disc file for 48 hours only, and cumulative reporting was not planned into the system as deliberate policy. Quality control of the Coulter 'S' output is maintained both throughout the day and retrospectively at the end of each working day using both whole blood patient blood transfusion profiles, a record of blood and product usage, worksheets, quality control information, end-of-day listing in alphabetical order plus statistical information for administrative purposes. Since its introduction the system has been remarkably free from breakdown as a result of hardware failure. A number of fail safe/fallbacks have been included in the system.

Blood Cell Count↗