We very appreciate these valuable comments for the National Health Insurance Research
Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan [
1
,
2
]: The NHIRD covers a highly representative sample of Taiwan's general population because
the reimbursement policy is universal and operated by a single-buyer, the government
in Taiwan. All insurance claims should be scrutinized by medical reimbursement specialists
and peer review [
[3]
]. In addition, JAMA Internal Medicine already highly recommended these strengths of
these observation-epidemiology studies based on the NHIRD and their population-based
design with a very large sample size including study and control cohorts. More advantages
include enormous sample size and lack of selection and participation bias. The process
for data mining and accessing was already established by the NHIRD. Therefore, vast
amounts of information can be obtained at a minimal cost [
[4]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of Internal MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan: a resource or obstacle for health research?.Eur J Intern Med. 2016; ([***])
- An overview of the healthcare system in Taiwan.London J Prim Care. 2010; 3: 115-119
- Reply letter to the comments.Eur J Intern Med. 2016; 31: e8
- Nationwide population science: lessons from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.JAMA Intern Med. 2015 Sep.; 175: 1527-1529
- Association between ischemic stroke and carbon monoxide poisoning: a population-based retrospective cohort analysis.Eur J Intern Med. 2016; 29: 65-70
- Healthcare in your pocket: unlocking the potential of mHealth.Europa, 2014/4/10
- eHealth action plan 2012–2020.2012
- Mobile medical applications: guidance for industry and food and drug administration staff.FDA, 2013/9/25
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 13, 2016
Accepted:
March 30,
2016
Received:
March 28,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
