Expanding the data repository: new technology and resources for the 21st century.

These are exciting times to be at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP). The size and diversity of databases at MCHP provide an unprecedented opportunity to conduct population health and health services research and research into the determinants of health. Current holdings now represent over 90 databases of health, education, social services, survey and clinical data, as well as instruments such as the Early development Indicator (EdI) now routinely administered to all primary school children in Manitoba. In the near future we expect to add public housing, infectious disease reporting and justice. Individual records in all these data sets can be linked, as approvals from research ethics boards, health information privacy committees and individual data trustees permit, through the use of an encrypted individual identifier. Because of previous requirements, only individuals who were physically on-site could analyze data. for off-site investigators wanting to do their own data analysis, this meant that working with MCHP data was cumbersome. To address this limitation, several new and emerging technologies have been combined and will be piloted at MCHP over the next four Expanding the Data Repository: new technology and Resources for the 21st Century