Page last revised: July 1, 2010

DATA SET: MENTAL HEALTH

Date Range: April 1, 1986 onwards (fiscal year)

Data Source: BC Ministry of Health Services

Description

The Mental Health data set contains administrative data in several files that were created using tables in the Mental Health Data Warehouse (MHDW). The mental health data we have are the Minimum Reporting Requirement (MRR) tables from the MHDW at the Ministry of Health Services. The MRR is now the requirement for all HAs in reporting on all patient/clients receiving mental health services in the community. The mental health data are a snapshot from a continuously updated relational database system with files such as client, care episodes, and service events.

Project-specific ‘care episode keys' are provided unless otherwise authorized. This allows the grouping of service records within a single care episode.

Inclusions

  • Only Care Episodes and Service Events with a ‘first contact date' greater than or equal to April 1, 1986 are included in the data.

Exclusions

  • Any ongoing care episodes starting prior to April 1, 1986 and continuing for any period afterwards are not included in the data. Also the Service Events associated with these ongoing Care Episodes are not included in the data.

Data Changes Over Time

  • The Minimum Reporting Requirement (MRR) data we now receive differ slightly from the data we previously received for mental health from the Client Patient Information Management (CPIM) system. Until a revised checklist is in use, we map the original data file and field checklist against a new file and field checklist and provide researchers with the cross-walked data.

Quality/Accuracy of Information/Field Coding Source

  • We have reason to believe there is significant under reporting in the Mental Health Data Warehouse (MHDW), although we do not have further details at this time.

References

Fields Available

Please contact the RLU at rlu@popdata.bc.ca for a list of the fields currently available.