4 ． Research Use of Public Health and Medical Data Using the “Healthcare Data Integration System” Promoted by Kobe City Government

Abstract

Kobe City has developed a new “Healthcare Data Integration System” that links and anonymizes health care data such as medical and nursing care claims data and medical checkup data, and started its operation in November 2020. Kobe City aims to improve healthcare services through the promotion of data-driven evidence-based policymaking using the same system.
This system contains consolidated data on an individual basis for about 600,000 citizens, such as medical claims data, nursing care claims data, health checkup data, nursing care certification records, and immunization data. These consolidated data can be used free of charge for research purposes, but only by academic institutions. The use of the data must be approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kobe City.
The minimum necessary data set is created according to the content of the research and is anonymized so that individuals cannot be identified.
Kobe City uses the data stored in the “Healthcare Data Integration System” for two purposes： first, to understand and keep track of the health status and health issues of citizens, and second, to accelerate the use of data for research purposes. When the research of high public value is conducted based on Kobe City's data, new findings from the results can be reflected in health services by the government. By accelerating the use of the “Healthcare Data Integration System”, Kobe City is expecting to further improve health services for all citizens.