Drug Epidemiology Resources and Studies: The Saskatchewan Data Base

Abstract

Saskatchewan is one of the ten provinces in Canada. It has a system of health care whereby each resident in the province is entitled to equivalent health care. The provincial government pays on behalf of each resident, and thus, a large amount of data has accumulated on hospitalizations, physician services, and prescription drug use. The information can be electronically linked through a common eight-digit numeric identifier. The Prescription Drug Plan has information on those drugs listed in the formulary (over 1,600 products). Since 1975, over 37 million prescriptions have been paid for on behalf of approximately one million residents. The Drug Plan data base, when linked to the other computerized systems, can provide valuable information on such things as epidemiology, post-marketing surveillance, and health management.