Developing an electronic health record for intractable diseases in Japan.

Because intractable diseases result from unidentifiable causes and are very difficult to treat, they require a lifelong epidemiology database. Japan does not use global unique identifiers, such as social security numbers, so we conducted a feasibility study regarding an electronic health record (EHR). An EHR can be used as a lifelong database and reduce conventional administrative work. However, it will be necessary to develop additional tools to overcome issues specific to Japan before an EHR can be implemented.