Home and Community Care data set

Description

Information on transactions for individuals receiving services paid by the Continuing Care Division, BC Ministry of Health Services. Transactions relate to clients who are publicly-funded residents of long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, family care homes and group homes, clients in adult daycare programs, and clients receiving home care and home support services.

Population Data BC receives data from the Continuing Care Data Warehouse (CCDW) tables of the Ministry of Health Services. The CCDW system was implemented in 1990.

Fields available

Both Core and Non-Core fields are available for this data set.

Core vs. Non-Core Data

Core Data: Some data available through PopData and the HDPBC are ‘Core Data’. Core Data are data identified by the data provider as 'Safe Data' and eligible for pre-approved release, with the exception of PharmaNet data. Core Data includes commonly-requested data columns, but not necessarily all of the columns available in a data set. For example, some Core Data fields, such as geography or organisational codes, have been suppressed for increased privacy.

Please note that the overall data access request is subject to meeting ALL of the Five SAFEs requirements, not just the Safe Data component. For more detail on the Five SAFEs, visit the Eligibility and the FIVE Safe's model page of our website.

Non-Core Data: Non-Core Data are data NOT identified by the data provider as 'Safe Data' and thus are NOT eligible for pre-approved release. Access to Non-Core Data follows the usual processes and will not follow expedited review procedures.

For the majority of DARs, requesting access to Core Data may make the data access approval process quicker and reduce the wait time for data access. It may also reduce the need for time-consuming data amendments related to a request for additional data fields or changes to study populations.

> download Home and Community Care all available variables (pdf)

Data update schedule

For BC, our 6 HCC data sets (ADS, AL, CM, HS, PS, and RC) usually have a fiscal-year lag.

Approximate data update schedule	Complete data up to:
January	All fiscal years except for the current fiscal year
April	All fiscal years except for the current fiscal year
July	All fiscal years except for the current fiscal year
October	All fiscal years except for the current fiscal year

For BC, our HCC Minimum Reporting Requirements data usually has a 3-month lag.

Approximate data update schedule	Complete data up to:
January	September 30th
April	December 31st
July	March 31st
October	June 30th

Please note: Our data update schedule depends on when these data are made available to us by the data provider, so the update schedule is an estimation only. 

Please note: Our data update schedule depends on when these data are made available to us by the data provider, so the update schedule is an estimation only. 

Inclusions

• Service transactions for clients who are publicly-funded residents of long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, family care homes and group homes, clients in adult daycare programs, and clients receiving home care and home support services.

Exclusions

• Health authorities provide some services that they do not report to the CCDW.
• Community-based agencies do not report to the Ministry on the support services they provide.

Data changes over time

• Population Data BC now receives data from the Continuing Care Data Warehouse (CCDW) tables at the BC Ministry of Health Services. However, the current DAR/RA checklist (2003 July version) corresponds to the old format of Continuing Care data from the Continuing Care Information Management System (CCIMS). 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.
  The current CCDW data differs from the former CCIMS data (available from 1985 to1989), and the continuity between the data is problematic to work with. Therefore, we generally only provide researchers with the CCDW data from 1990 forward.

Quality/accuracy of information/field coding source

• Health Authorities are slowly changing their reporting mechanism from CCIMS to a new Minimum Reporting Requirement (MRR). In the process, data quality in the CCIMS system, which feeds the CCDW, appears to have suffered. Researchers interested in using these data will want to consult with Population Data BC staff about limitations and potential solutions. We expect data quality to improve again over time.

Important additional information

• The LTC Service Plan table (Care Advice for LTC on the DAR/RA) captures services provided to residents of a facility and home support services provided to community-based residents. The Direct Care table (Care Advice for Direct Care Service Record on the DAR/RA) captures home care services such as home nursing, home physiotherapy and home occupational therapy provided to community-based residents. The division between these two files is an historical artefact related to the development of publicly-funded services (Hollander and Pallan 1995).
• A Service Event is a period of service that a patient has with a service provider. Each service event begins with a ‘Start Date' or service change (‘Start Type Code'), and the event is either open or ended by a service change (‘Start Type Code') or an ‘End Date'.
• Project-specific client numbers are provided unless otherwise authorized. This allows the grouping of service records within a single care episode.

References

• McGrail KM, Broemeling AM,McGregor MJ, Salomons K, Ronald LA, McKendry R. Home Health Services in British Columbia: A Portrait of Users and Trends Over Time. Vancouver (BC): UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research; October 2008.
• Hollander, M. J. & Pallan, P. The British Columbia Continuing Care System: Service Delivery and Resource Planning. Aging (Milano.) 1995;7:94-109.