Centre for Data Linkage (CDL)
The Population Health Research Network (PHRN) is a project funded through an allocation from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) in Australia.
The PHRN has the objective of building a national infrastructure for the development and promotion of data linkage for population and clinical health datasets for research purposes. This network will enable data from a diverse and rich range of health datasets to be linked across jurisdictions and sectors in order to enable nationally and internationally significant population-level research, to improve health, wellbeing and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health services in Australia.
The Centre for Data Linkage (CDL) is the national component of the network and was established in April 2009 as a unit within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. Hosted by the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), the CDL is tasked with establishing a secure data linkage facility, and to enable linkage between jurisdictional datasets, and between these datasets and research datasets using demographic data. The Centre will not hold these datasets, but will link the demographic data that has been separated from the remainder of each dataset to create ‘linkage keys’. Clinical or service information are not needed by the Centre for Data Linkage and, will not be provided to it.
A team of data linkage experts has been established at CDL and are actively involved in the design, development and testing of this state-of-the-art national data linkage facility.
In addition to its important role as a secure national data linkage facility, the CDL is also responsible for:
- research and review of various linkage models and technology landscapes to determine the best model for the PHRN collaboration
- assisting with the secure delivery of national linked data to researchers
- providing technical advice and assistance to other PHRN data linkage units and key committees
- review and development of data quality assurance tools
- facilitation of geo-coding of address information
The CDL has also been involved in:
- evaluation and reporting of commercial and in-house linkage software
- development of a security and risk management framework and IT Security plan to ensure safe handling of data during the linkage process
Since its establishment in 2009, the CDL has already made significant progress and is well on its way to achieving further success. Current and future activities include:
- continued testing of its linkage capabilities via involvement in the current and planned PHRN Proof of Concept collaboration
- further development of its IT infrastructure
- ongoing building, testing and provision of production components and leading-edge software and technology platforms
- further development of models and plans on data acquisition and linkage and data management systems
- establishment of a geo-coding capability, involving the testing of geo-coding standardisation data and an investigation into the influence and impact of geo-coding on linkage quality.
