Saskatchewan Health Data: Where you need it, when you need it!

A new secure virtual environment removes barriers to using Saskatchewan health data for research. The Secure Research Environment (SRE), available through the Health Research Data Platform – Saskatchewan (HRDP-SK), allows approved researchers to access Saskatchewan health data virtually, making it accessible from anywhere in the province or country.  

The HRDP-SK makes linked health datasets from several Saskatchewan health organizations available from a single access point. With better access to health information, researchers can better understand key issues in Saskatchewan healthcare and guide system improvement. Prior to HRDP-SK, provincial health data could only be accessed onsite in Saskatoon, limiting who was able to conduct research. Researchers were constrained by location and business hours, making projects logistically challenging, especially those involving multi-jurisdictional or national work. These complexities led some researchers to bypass the individual-level data entirely, choosing instead to work with aggregated data; that is, averages or other statistical outputs collected by the data’s home institution. While valuable in some instances, aggregated data is often insufficient for testing hypotheses in health research. 

With the SRE now available in the HRDP-SK, researchers have improved access to de-identified health data in Saskatchewan. Teams based outside of Saskatoon or from other provinces no longer require travel to access the data and can carry out work from any location, and at the hours convenient to them.  

Data privacy controls are essential to the SRE. The HRDP-SK team and its users commit to strong privacy and confidentiality protections in their work. These protections help to ensure that the SRE is both secure and straightforward to use. Within the environment, researchers work with de-identified data to produce aggregated results on population averages and trends. For security, the SRE locks users’ devices so the internet is not accessible, files cannot be saved to the computer and only approved analytical software can be used.  

Malori Keller, Director, HRDP-SK with the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research, is excited about this move to a virtual environment. “The logistical challenges associated with requiring physical access to the data can significantly delay or even end a research project. A virtual environment provides freedom to the research team; time previously spent working out operational details can be better used analyzing the data and focusing on the research.” 

The creation of the HRDP-SK and the SRE enables Saskatchewan researchers to use data to produce local solutions to local problems, which ensures care and service delivery can be informed by timely evidence. This ultimately means better care for people here in the province. Further, the HRDP-SK can help attract the top minds in healthcare—both clinicians and researchers—to our province.  

Ease and flexibility in accessing individual-level data make the SRE a powerful tool for Saskatchewan health research. It provides the best of both worlds: data privacy and the opportunity for agile collaboration in one secure working environment. Researchers using the HRDP-SK are now able to work nimbly and obtain reliable results that can easily be translated to other knowledge users; the SRE provides timely generation of evidence to inform decision-making and best practices for a healthier Saskatchewan.  

HRDP-SK supports project-specific data linkages

Research teams can now request data from outside the Health Research Data Platform – Saskatchewan (HRDP-SK) for their research projects. This new option to bring outside data into the HRDP-SK builds significant capacity for research teams to include Saskatchewan data in their projects.

“The ability to link to external datasets in the HRDP-SK ecosystem will give researchers new flexibility to explore their research questions in Saskatchewan and across multiple provinces/territories,” says Carrie-Anne Whyte, DASH Program Lead at HDRN Canada.

To use external data, researchers can request data be integrated with HRDP-SK for one-time use in a specific research project. Many different sources of data are eligible for consideration, including patient-level surveys, socio-economic or geographical data or data from other organizations such as Stats Canada. All data requests are pending appropriate privacy and ethical review as well as project review.

This exciting new research feature builds on the research possibilities through the platform. The HRDP-SK currently offers five databases and will soon add three more: the Mental Health & Addiction Information System, Long Term Care and the Saskatchewan Cancer Registry.

 Want to get started with project-specific data?

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Interested in doing a multi-regional project?

Check out resources and support at www.hdrn.ca

Health Research Data Platform – Saskatchewan approves its first users, ringing in a new era for Saskatchewan Health Research

Saskatchewan health researchers are poised to take a leap forward in how they access data, transforming health research in our province. In January, a major milestone was achieved when two research teams were approved to begin conducting analysis through the Health Research Data Platform – Saskatchewan (HRDP-SK) for the first time.

The HRDP-SK is the first platform in Saskatchewan to integrate health data from multiple agencies. Partners have been working together over the past two years to develop a secure environment that enables secondary data users – those who use previously collected data for a new purpose, such as research – to access health data. The data is de-identified to ensure privacy and confidentiality.

Funded by the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) and Health Data Research Network (HDRN) Canada, work on the HRDP-SK is supported by seven partners, including Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations, eHealth Saskatchewan, 3S Health, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.

“HRDP-SK advancements are instrumental in improving health data access here in Saskatchewan. Researchers can now bypass several time-consuming steps and access more databases more efficiently,” says Christina Weise, SCPOR’s Executive Director and HDRN Canada board member. “Having a data access centre will better position and align Saskatchewan with other provinces and help to ensure not only that our data is represented in research, but that results from the research are based on relevant information, improving likelihood of implementation.”

HDRN Canada Scientific Director Dr. Kim McGrail said that enabling Saskatchewan to be part of multi-regional studies in Canada will be a great boost to the research in the province: "Researcher access to data through HRDP-SK is an incredible step forward and the result of great partnerships and a lot of consultation.”

Researchers can now request data via the HRDP-SK website. Additional data integration work is underway to increase the number of databases available, which will allow the HRDP-SK team to support a greater breadth of research requests.

Dr. Derek Jorgenson, a professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan and Principal Investigator of the project An Interprofessional Model for Chronic Pain Management, recently received approval for his team to access data through the HRDP-SK. “The HRDP-SK has created a process for researchers in Saskatchewan to access the health system data that is already being collected,” Dr. Jorgenson explains. “This opens the door to incredible opportunities to identify health system problems sooner and better measure the impact of the solutions to those problems.”

Dr. Haizen Mou is a University of Saskatchewan researcher whose project Evaluating the Cooperative Community Clinic Model has also received access approval. “For health researchers in Saskatchewan,
having access to health data via HRDP-SK is a major milestone,” Dr. Mou says. “The platform allows our team to develop a comprehensive understanding of the utilization, costs and effectiveness of the primary care system in Saskatchewan. With this research, we will be able to make evidence-based policy recommendations that improve the health and healthcare of people in Saskatchewan.”

Over the past 18 months, the HRDP-SK has consulted with over 30 research teams to support their data inquiries and they are currently working with another ten teams to complete data access requests. The demand for access to health data through the HRDP-SK continues to increase.

Heather Dyck, a Patient Partner engaged with SCPOR, summarizes the significance of recent HRDP-SK accomplishments, stating, “The people of Saskatchewan require access to the health system data necessary to plan system changes that benefit patients, do research that matters to patients and have government programs that meet the health needs of all people; rural, urban, remote, First Nations and Métis. That is why we need the HRDP-SK.”

Learn more about the HRDP-SK and accessing health data for research purposes.