National Cardiology Information System in the Czech Republic

Abstract Issue The National Cardiovascular Plan (NCP) of the Czech Republic for 2025-2035 is a document with the vision to ensure that every citizen of the Czech Republic has the opportunity to prevent cardiovascular disease and to ensure the highest possible quality of care and life regardless of geographical location or stage of the disease. One of its strategic objectives and needs is the availability of epidemiological data and analyses of indicators of the quality of care provided, i.e. establishment of the National Cardiology Information System (NCIS). Description of the problem The availability of data on cardiovascular disease in the Czech Republic is crucial for the implementation of the NCP. The NCIS, developed by the Czech Society of Cardiology and the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, integrates data from different sources of the NHIS. Results Through the data linkage of data on diagnoses, healthcare use, social services, mortality, socio-economic indicators and other data available in the National Health Information System and the National Social Information System, the NCIS covers key evaluation dimensions and segments of cardiology care: (i) epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases, characteristics of patients and their risk factors, (ii) primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, (iii) treatment burden of providers, (iv) acute inpatient care with an emphasis on specialised and highly specialised care, (v) care of paediatric patients with cardiovascular disease, (vi) end-of-life care of patients with cardiovascular disease, (vii) indicators of availability, capacities, outcomes and quality of care. Lessons Linking health and social data from multiple sources is an effective way of developing new information systems focused on complex area of medicine and public health. The Czech experience shows that even complex, multi-sectoral datasets can be used practically for system-level management and prediction. Key messages • The data linkage of already existing databases and the secondary usage of these data is a key approach for obtaining complex information with minimalised administrative burden. • The integrated system enables various types of analyses from simple descriptive studies to analysis of survival of patients, analysis of risk factors, predictive modelling, regional disparities etc