Requesting administrative health data from other organizations

Last updated on August 11, 2022

Ministry of Health data could be obtained using one of the avenues described in this website. However, other public organizations in B.C. hold administrative health data or other data relevant for public health that could be used for evaluation or research and could be accessed by following and fulfilling the respective organization’s processes and requirements.

Ministry of Health employees that need external data could contact the organization directly or could ask DMS staff to initiate the contact and subsequently to facilitate the data request process. Ultimately, the DMS staff will need to be involved in order to develop the data sharing agreement, which will most likely be an ISP, if the data requested is from one of the provincial health authorities or one of the agencies under PHSA.

Health Authorities employees that require data from one of the public bodies listed below are encouraged to use the contact information available and start the process of data request, if possible with the help of their own organization’s privacy and legislation team.

The links below are provided as is, although Ministry of Health will make efforts to update them as necessary.

Organizations signatories to the General Health Information Sharing Agreement

Provincial Health Services Authority

http://www.phsa.ca/researcher/

http://www.phsa.ca/researcher/resources-support/data-access-management

To learn about what data are available and the process for accessing data, visit PHSA's agency or program and services sites:

Agencies

Programs and services

Vancouver Coastal Health
Access to VCH data is facilitated through Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute

http://www.vchri.ca/

The website provides information on an array of administrative forms (http://www.vchri.ca/forms) and especially for VCH data application form: http://www.vchri.ca/sites/default/files/form_-_vch_data_application_18feb2015_draft_v3.pdf

Fraser Health Authority
FHA Research & Evaluation webpage: https://www.fraserhealth.ca/employees/research-and-evaluation#.YtWHrrfMJjU

Island Health Authority
VIHA Research and development web page: http://www.viha.ca/rnd/

Interior Health Authority
IHA Research web page: https://www.interiorhealth.ca/about-ih/research
IHA Information requests web page: https://www.interiorhealth.ca/AboutUs/InformationRequests/Pages/default.aspx

Northern Health Authority
NHA research information (including evaluation programs) web page: https://northernhealth.ca/YourHealth/Research.aspx