White Paper: The Linked Person Record: managing the cancer system through data integration.

In all data-rich industries, effective data management is essential if users and stakeholders are to expect value from corporate data. For market-driven enterprises, clean and readily accessible data is vital for maintaining a competitive edge. Quality, integrated data in comprehensive and targeted reports enables effective strategic and tactical decision-making, improves data security, increases the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, ensures tracking of products and services and helps meet regulator demands accurately and with minimal effort. In addition to these strategic benefits, high-performance access to the same data is essential for meeting operational demands from front-line staff at call centres, distribution hubs and network monitoring stations. In healthcare, data-related priorities are radically different. Marketplace return on investment gives way to improving healthcare delivery, supporting performance management, research and funding analysis. Notwithstanding differences in business priorities, technologies, solutions and methodologies can be intelligently adapted from profit-driven industries to healthcare needs. The Linked Person Record for Cancer, developed for Cancer Care Ontario in 2007–2008, represents the kind of innovation required if healthcare information is to take advantage of advances in information management.