GAP-DRG (General Approach for Patient oriented Outpatient-based DRG)

Summary

Strengths: The database provides coverage of the entire population, makes it possible to link the data through the Unique Person Identifier, and provides reliable data on the usage of actual health care services. Weaknesses: It is possible to identify episodes of health care use, but not the pathways of care (date of episode is not exactly recorded). There is a lack of data on diagnosis and limited socio-economic variables and coverage of outpatient care (ambulatory care in hospital settings is not covered). The database is not user-friendly as data management experise is needed in order to use the complex dataset.

Type of data

Data Source
Other, please specify

Type of Study
Other: Research database

Data gathering method
Other: Reimbursement data

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata

Formats available

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Database was assembled with data for years 2006-2007. It includes all individuals who received services in 2006/07 and all those covered by social insurance (approximately 98% of the population).

First year of collection
2006-2007

Stratification if applicable
Stratification possible for age, gender and district; Available data and findings are not published with a regional disaggregation (although in theory that is possible)

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Each of Austria's 9 regions

Age range
All ages

Statistical representativeness
Other, please specify

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Data collected on demand for health care services, i.e. episodes of care (outpatient and inpatient) and sickness leaves. The database does not cover ambulatory care in hospitals. The following conditions are covered: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, cancer, coronary health disease, and mental health. Socio-economic variables includeage, gender and district. Corresponds to Health and Performance Topic

Linkage

Standardisation
NA

Possibility of linkage among databases
It is possible to link the database to other national databases through a Unique Person Identifier (UPI).

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Database is composed of several regional and occupational sickness funds. Hospital data was added and linked through a complex algorithm. About 99% of observations in all databases were matched. Data also includes seasonal workers and tourists who used health care services, but the inclusion of these observations does not impact quality of data, given the total number of observations (approximately 98% of population).

Breaks

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection

Governance

Contact information
Nina Pfeffer
Main Association of the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions (Hauptverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger)
Kundmanngasse 21
1031 Vienna Austria Phone: +43 1 711 320
Email: nina.pfeffer(at)hvb.sozvers.at
Url:

Timeliness, transparency
Source data is collected annually, but this research database only contains data for 2006-2007. The main findings were published in 2011. The Main Association of the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions (Hauptverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger) makes the R & SQL programming codes available for replication of matching procedure.