What did we achieve in 2011?

A great deal was achieved in 2011 thanks to the hard work of our staff and the collaborative efforts of our partners and stakeholders. We thank the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, BC Ministry of Health, BC Ministry of Education, BC Vital Statistics Agency, WorkSafeBC, BC Cancer Agency, UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), EduData Canada and the Office of Chief Information Officer of BC for their continued support.

This year the Ministry of Health made a significant commitment to BC’s health research community:  guaranteeing a total application to approval timeline of four months for eligible projects using Population Data BC holdings. Please visit: http://www.popdata.bc.ca/news/NewMoHApprovalProcess for details. 


Achievements in 2011 include:


Data holdings

  • Expanded data holdings with the BC Cancer Agency
  • New firm level and noise exposure data became available from WorkSafeBC via Population Data BC
  • HELP Middle Development Instrument (MDI) Data became available via Population Data BC
  • We managed 47 data collections from 17 sources and upgraded our servers to 400 terabytes of storage
  • New data agreement with the Integrated Cadastral Information Society (ICIS)
  • Linkages approved between internal holdings and external data from Perinatal Services BC, BC Cardiac Services and the BC Centre for Disease Control

Data access

  • Approval for our first-ever health-education data linkage
  • First training dataset using BC Ministry of Health data authorized for use
  • Expanded support services, including instant messaging to Researcher Liaisons and The Doctor Is In — offering methodological help to researchers from an administrative data expert
  • We became part of the communication and data access process for PharmaNet data
  • Launch of new custom built project tracking software to better track and manage projects

Education & training

  • Launch of the Professional Specialization Certificate in Population Health Data Analysis with a cohort of 13 starting the first course, Working with Administrative Data, in September
  • Workshops in Statistical Software Package R, Structural Equation Modeling and Bayesian Disease Mapping – Level II were delivered to capacity audiences from universities, health authorities, government ministries and other health organizations
  • Customized workshops in Competing Risk Analysis and Introduction for Statistics were developed and delivered in partnership with other organizations

Support

  • Expansion of the membership of our Governance Oversight Committee to include Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and the Office of the Provincial Health Officer

Systems & security

  • Expansion of the Secure Research Environment including extra high-performance machines, Linux, and the capacity to submit batch jobs   
  • Moved to a new, disk-based backup system

General

  • New Research in Action section of website including case studies, video presentations, project listings and related publications

In 2012 look out for …

  • February Conference and Workshops on Population Health Data Analysis: From Infrastructure to Innovation
  • Access to ICIS data
  • Expanded WorkSafeBC data
  • Development of online Data Access Request Form
  • Launch of MetaData Central, a web-based documentation system that will include data dictionaries, linkage rates, and download links for geospatial data and more
  • Formalized policy on Student access and waivers
  • Availability of additional training data sets, under specified access conditions 
International Privacy Day 2012 Event

Celebrate International Data Privacy Day by learning about November’s changes to FIPPA and how it may impact your research.

Data Privacy Day logoResearch Implications of the Recent Amendments to BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA)

Speaker: Caitlin Pencarrick Hertzman, CIPP/C

Thursday January 26th 12pm – 1pm (feel free to bring your lunch)

LPC 491 (School of Population and Public Health Building) 2206 East Mall, UBC

Come celebrate International Data Privacy Day 2012 by learning about last November’s changes to FIPPA and how it may impact your research. Caitlin will highlight the most significant changes, speak about recent comments on the amendments and answer questions you may have about what it means for you.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to: caitlin.hertzman@popdata.bc.ca

 

New MoH data application process streamlines approvals & shortens approval times for qualifying research projects

Responding to the needs of BC’s health research community, the Ministry of Health has implemented a new process to streamline data application reviews and approvals.

Under this new approach, projects using Population Data BC holdings only and meeting certain requirements will have a total application to approval timeline of four months upon being submitted to the Ministry by Population Data BC on behalf of the applicant.  

In order to support this new approach, the Ministry is committed to a “Criteria Check” within two weeks of Population Data BC submitting a complete Data Access Request (DAR) application to the Ministry. During this check, the Ministry’s Research Data Access Services team will review and assign a category to the application, assign a project number, and seek any needed clarifications on documentation and/or rationales provided.  If applications cannot be processed or are deemed incomplete, they will be returned to Population Data BC to work with the applicant to meet Ministry requirements.

Another key part of the new process is the assignment of projects to categories that reflect levels of time and resourcing for the Ministry.

Category A

  • Projects in the “A” category are those that request data which are already held in-house at Population Data BC and the cohort is defined by Ministry data only.

All ‘A’ designated applications will be fully reviewed and brought for Chief Data Steward (CDS) consideration for approval within three months of being assigned a project number, on the condition that no modifications have been made post submission to the Ministry.

Category B

  • Projects in the “B” category are those that request data which are already held in-house at Population Data BC and agreements are in-place for non-MoH-defining cohorts.

All ‘B’ designated applications will be fully reviewed and brought for Chief Data Steward (CDS) consideration for approval within three months of receipt of  approval from non-Ministry data defining cohort provider, on the condition that no modifications have been made after cohort defining approval.

Category C

  • Projects in the “C” category are those that request both data held in-house at Population Data BC, and data which are external to Population Data BC and cohort defining external data request approvals and agreements are in place.

All ‘C’ designated applications will be fully reviewed and brought for Chief Data Steward (CDS) consideration for approval within three months of receipt of approval from all external data providers and all non-MoH data defining cohort providers, on the condition that no modifications have been made after these approvals have been issued.

Categories D and E

  • Projects in the “D” category are those that request both data held in-house at Population Data BC, and data which are external to Population Data BC, but for which not all external data steward approvals are in place.
  • Projects in the “E” category are those that are more complex or those requesting data which are external to Population Data BC and for which external approvals are not yet in place.

Projects designated under ‘D’ and ‘E’ categories will be reviewed, but do not have guaranteed full review timelines given the contingency upon external agreements and approvals and additional resources.

The Ministry of Health and Population Data BC are committed to continuing to work together to meet the needs of BC’s health researchers.

“This is a very important accomplishment that enables the Ministry of Health, in partnership with Population Data BC, to expedite research requests and support the research community in its important work”.  Chris Norman, Chief Data Steward, Ministry of Health.

 “This is a major commitment by the MOH to the research community, and is a significant step forward for Population Data BC.”  Nancy Meagher, Executive Director at Population Data BC.

Feb 8-10 2012 - Population Health Data Analysis conference

Population Data BC is partnering with the Canadian Population Health Initiative of CIHI to deliver a conference focusing on Population Health Data Analysis: From Infrastructure to Innovation. The conference  will take place from February 8th to 10th at the Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, downtown Vancouver.

The conference will be designed to meet the interests of researchers, faculty members, graduate students and representatives from government and health related organizations who work in the area of Population and Public Health. 

February 8th will include plenary presentations that focus on data linkage infrastructure, researcher case studies in different forms of data analysis, and innovation in presentation and knowledge translation.

The key objectives for day one plenary sessions include:

  • Providing an overview of the benefits and limitations of specific kinds of population health-related data
  • Providing examples of innovative data infrastructure and state-of-the-art research in population health data analysis and methods
  • Discussing effective ways to present research findings and support knowledge translation
  • Discussing challenges and opportunities for future research in population health

February 9th and 10th will feature one- and two-day hands-on workshops that will align with key presentations from day one. 

These workshops will be designed to:

  • Enhance understanding of when different analytical methods can be used and with what purpose
  • Develop theoretical knowledge and understanding in statistical analysis of administrative and other health data
  • Expand data analysis skills in specific areas and methods relevant to population health, such as:
    • Longitudinal analysis and multilevel modeling
    • Population Health and GIS                           
    • Innovative presentation methods and formats
    • Best practices in knowledge translation

For further details visit: www.popdata.bc.ca/events/conf2012

1st for PopData as groundbreaking project approved for study of developmental trajectories of BC’s at-risk children

Population Data BC has received approval for its first-ever health-education data linkage.

Dr Hillel GoelmanFollowing the linkage approval, Dr. Hillel Goelman and his research team at the University of British Columbia and B.C. Children’s Hospital will now be able to start Phase II of a unique project entitled, ‘An Interdisciplinary Study of the Developmental Trajectories of At-Risk Children’.

Bringing together researchers from Early Child Development, Neonatology, Developmental Pediatrics, Epidemiology and Population Health, the groundbreaking research study addresses the issue of population-based early identification by connecting health, developmental and educational trajectories of at-risk children.

Community partners in this project include the Developmental Disabilities Association of B.C. and early intervention programs across the province. The current project is an extension of the CHILD Project (Consortium for Health, Intervention, Learning and Development), 2003-2008 and is funded by the Social Development Partnerships Program of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

In Phase I of the  current project, Population Data BC enabled the team to access anonymized Medical Services Plan Registration and Premium Billing data, Hospital Separations data, and Vital Statistics clinical data so they could analyze the frequencies, diagnoses and distributions of newborns who were admitted to neonatal care.

When Phase I was completed, they had identified a cohort of anonymized ‘at-risk’ children who were admitted to Levels II and III Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), and also a comparison group of non-risk children, matching both on the basis of their date of birth, sex, and home postal code.

Population Data BC has been liaising with the Ministry of Health, the Vital Statistics Agency, UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), Edudata Canada and the Ministry of Education to initiate Phase II, which will link the health data from Phase I to education data.

The team will study whether at-risk children perform more poorly in school, and whether they require learning assistance more frequently than the non-risk children. The researchers will also use geo-mapping techniques to better understand the interplay between child development and the multiple contexts of family, neighbourhoods, communities and government health policies. Phase III of the project will examine developmental trajectories of children with specific kinds of developmental challenges.

Dr. Goelman, Professor in UBC’s Faculty of Education and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program, hopes that this project will lead to better intervention services and long-term support for families with children who are born early, or who have health complications during delivery or infancy. “The project will help us and our colleagues figure out the developmental patterns and interventions that make a difference in the lives of these children and their families.”

“What this approval means is that we will be one of the leaders in studying the longer-term effects of NICU children from multiple perspectives,” wrote Dr. Goelman in a congratulatory letter to the team at Population Data BC.