RAMQ - sporedata/researchdesigneR GitHub Wiki

General description

The Régie de l'Assurance-Maladie du Québec (RAMQ) database contains data on medical services delivered to all Québec citizens, as well as prescription drugs delivered to persons enrolled by the RAMQ's Prescription Drug Insurance Plan. The RAMQ's Prescription Drug Insurance Plan covers around 43% of Québec's population, primarily elderly people, social aid beneficiaries since 1980, and over 1.7 million additional subscribers since 1997, principally workers and their families who, in socioeconomic terms, constitute the typical population.

The RAMQ's Prescription Drug Insurance Plan database contains information on dispensed medications (date of filling, name, dose, quantity, dosage form, and prescription duration), while the RAMQ's Medical Services database contains information on medical services provided in a clinic, an ED, or a hospital (date and diagnosis coded with ICD-9). The RAMQ's databases also contain sociodemographic information such as age, gender, social assistance status, and, when applicable, death date. Data from the RAMQ's Prescription Drug Insurance database, as well as asthma diagnoses from the RAMQ's Medical Services database, have been professionally examined and found to be accurate.

Variable categories

Limitations

  • High specificity but lower sensitivity for the administrative data

Related publications