JMDC, Inc. (JMDC) has created a database, using data collected from medical institutions in Japan, consisting of claims (for hospitalization and outpatient treatment), diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) assessment forms, and clinical laboratory test values. The oldest data in this database that can be accessed relate to treatment in April 2014. Currently (the end of October 2019), the number of medical institutions is 218, consisting of 131 DPC-eligible hospitals and 87 DPC-ineligible hospitals. Using this database, it is possible to carry out an analysis that makes up for certain limitations of JMDC's another database of data from health insurance societies (eg, the disease status and test results cannot be ascertained, and there is insufficient access to data for elderly people). In addition, it is noteworthy that this database includes not only data from DPC-eligible hospitals but also data from some DPC-ineligible hospitals.
Keywords: DPC; Japan; database; health insurance; medical institutions.
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of General and Family Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japan Primary Care Association.