IJPDS International Journal of Population Data Science IJPDS 2399-4908 Swansea University 10.23889/ijpds.v9i5.2747 9:5:258 An innovative linked Electronic Health Record derived data ecosystem for understanding the complexities of health and ageing. Andrew Nadine 1 2 Beare Richard 1 2 Carver Alison 1 2 Ravipati Tanya 2 3 Parker Emily 2 3 Collyer Taya 1 2 Ung David 2 3 Srikanth Velandai 1 2 Peninsula Clinical School, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University National Centre for Healthy Ageing Academic unit, Peninsula Health 18 09 2024 2024 9 5 2747 This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This article is available from the IJPDS website at: https://ijpds.org/article/view/2747 Objective

We describe the creation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) derived linked data platform within the Australian National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA).

 Approach

Our approach involved establishing a core set of EHR data suitable for research from the sole public health provider within a defined geographic region. Relevant items were selected based on published literature and consensus processes and curated within a specialised research data warehouse. Curation involved: data validation, quality assessment, internal linkage between episodes and data harmonisation/merging. An AI supported natural language processing pipeline was implemented to extract text-based data. Approvals were obtained from government agencies to link commonwealth claims data (primary care, medication, aged care, death) and state administrative hospital data, for all residents aged ≥60 years. Publicly available datasets were scoped for inclusion and collaborations established to incorporate local council data.

 Results

A core of 113 curated items for >900,000 people over 10 years have been established across 4 hospitals and 10 community/outpatient services. Linked state and commonwealth data were obtained for 179,089 residents aged >60 years (Jan 2010-May 2021, linkage accuracy 98.4%). Environmental (greenery, air pollution, walkability) and Census data have been incorporated for each neighbourhood (Statistical Area 1).  Data access, extraction and release has been tested through over 30 use-case projects in: dementia, residential aged care, medication use, homelessness, environmental impacts on health and ageing and health service redesign.

 Implications

The NCHA Data Platform provides an international exemplar for the use of linked EHR data in advancing population health research.