Accumulated for over 20 years, NHI's claims data constitutes the largest repository of people's health information in Taiwan. With the rise of the Big Data concept in recent years, NHIA has begun to gradually compile data in various fields while maintaining information security. It uses cloud computing technology to provide doctors with clinical professional assessments and offer health insurance data to the public.
NHI PharmaCloud System
In July 2013, the NHIA completed the patient-centered NHI PharmaCloud System, which allows contracted medical institutions to query in realtime patients' medication records for the previous six months via the NHI VPN system. By providing reference information to doctors when prescribing prescriptions, and to pharmacy personnel when providing advices on medication use, this system is enhancing care quality and reducing unnecessary duplication of medical resources.
Furthermore, NHI contracted medical institutions have incorporated the NHI PharmaCloud information into their internal drug management systems to create their own in-house specialized drug management mechanisms. These could include standardized procedures for inpatient and outpatient PharmaCloud System query procedures, setting up counters where the elderly can pick up their prescriptions, developing intelligent PharmaCloud interpretation programs, and tracking inappropriate drug use or prescriptions. The NHI PharmaCloud is also being used to encourage inpatients to use medications that they have brought in themselves (medications prescribed by other hospitals or outpatient departments). These processes have helped pharmacists to better fulfil their role in enhancing the safe use of medicines and have improved the overall medication safety environment, reflecting the profound usefulness of the NHI PharmaCloud System.
NHI MediCloud System
Based on the NHI PharmaCloud System, the NHIA developed the NHI MediCloud System in 2015 according to users’ feedback and practical clinical needs. The new system encompasses not only the continuously improving NHI PharmaCloud System, but also being expanded to function a total of 12 additional query systems, including:
- Chinese medicine prescription use records
- examination and test records and results
- detailed records of surgeries
- dental treatment and surgical records
- drug allergy records
- records of specific controlled drug and specific clotting factor medications usage
- rehabilitation records
- hospital discharge summaries and Taiwan Centers for Disease Control vaccination records
- sections presenting medical records regarding Hepatitis B and C
All of this information is brought together on the same single platform. The system also provides a user-friendly search interface and reminders (for instance, reminder windows displaying the most recent date of specific tests, a timeline showing visits to medical practitioners and recent medical care, and the mechanism that automatically reminds physicians whether there is a duplicate prescription, drug interaction or allergic agent). These upgrades to the system make it easier for medical professionals to gain quicker access to vital information by shortening the time needed to read information and use the system. This enables physicians, pharmacists and specific healthcare professionals to make better clinical judgments and provide patients with even better care quality.
Uploading Medical Images
According to the NHI big data analysis, it was found that controlling unnecessary examinations, checkups and medication administration are an important key. Therefore, since 2015, medical institutions have been encouraged to upload various examination and checkup results. Starting on January 2018, primary care medical institutions may retrieve images and report contents of CT, MRI, ultrasound, gastroscopy, colonoscopy, and X-ray examinations performed on patients by major hospitals through the NHI MediCloud System. As far as the general public is concerned, seeking second medical opinions or subsequent care from a hospital of the same level can be achieved by retrieving data from the cloud to view test and checkup reports, thereby saving the time from waiting for hospital operating processes and money, while reducing potential health risks arising from repeated examinations.