The Electronic Health Information System (eGIS) of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV). A basis for small-scale analyses of health-care provision

As one of the main players in the German health system, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) is heavily involved in issues around research and planning for the current and future provision of medical care. The KBV is particularly concerned with tackling the challenge of establishing a uniform source of data and is working to bridge the"data divide" in the research and planning of medical care. To this end, it has developed the Electronic Health Information System (eGIS). The procedure for setting up the EGIS was as follows: (1) Merging externally available data from the relevant sectors of the German health system with the KBV's own data to form a single database. (2) Merging and aggregating the cross-sector data at a single small-scale geographical level. (3) Capturing several years' worth of data in order to be able to carry out time series analyses and identify trends. eGIS provides a single database and uniform evaluation methods, thus ensuring that the principles of homogeneity and comparability are adhered to. The access it gives to the available regionalized data facilitates comprehensive analyses, such as regional, time series and regression analyses, at a small-scale level. The design chosen for the eGIS ensures that its analyses achieve high consistency in answering questions related to the provision of medical care. With the help of the eGIS, an exceptionally broad range of issues in the field of health and medical care can be studied at a regional level.