About the E-PIX®
A record linkage and a unique identifier are required in order to merge research data from several projects and studies and assign it to the respective person. In addition to the administration of person-identifying information (PII), it must be possible to assign individual identifiers of the source systems (e.g. laboratories, study centres, etc.) to the correct person. As PII can be incomplete or incorrect, an error-tolerant and reproducible record linkage is required. All these responsibilities are covered by the E-PIX®.
The E-PIX® enables probability-based record linkage and generates a unique identifier (Master Patient Index) for each research project and person. The E-PIX® can manage different versions of a person's PII and allows possible synonym errors (duplicates) to be detected automatically. This is achieved on the basis of freely definable parameters (e.g. given name, family name, date of birth, KVNR, address information). Several comparison algorithms can be selected for automated matching. Project-specific validations prevent the entry of invalid data and increase data quality right from the data entry stage. Possible synonym errors are protocolled and can be cleared with the help of E-PIX®. Cross-site research projects require special protection of the PII. This is why the E-PIX® also facilitates Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) through the generation and comparison of coded PII. The E-PIX® can be deployed in local, decentralised and centralised infrastructures.
Additional Information
License: AGPLv3
Copyright: 2009 - 2025 Trusted Third Party of the University Medicine Greifswald
Contact: Form
Concept and implementation: Lars Geidel
Web-Client: Arne Blumentritt, Frank-Michael Moser
Docker: Ronny Schuldt
Bloom Filter: Christopher Hampf
User Manual
The current version of the user manual (German) for the E-PIX® is here available
API
All functionalities of E-PIX® are provided for external use via SOAP-interface, which is available from http://IP-ADDRESS:8080/epix/epixService?wsdl. Further information and sample-requests are part of the user manual. The complete API description is available from https://ths-greifswald.de/epix/doc.
Note
The E-PIX® is freely available and has been developed by the University Medicine Greifswald (Institute for Community Medicine) since 2009 and was published in 2014 as part of the MOSAIC project (funded by the DFG HO 1937/2-1).
Selected functions of the E-PIX® were implemented as part of MIRACUM (funded by the BMBF 01ZZ1801M) and NUM (funded by the BMBF 01KX2021). The E-PIX® is continuously being improved on the basis of project-specific requirements and on the basis of feedback from the user community.
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