Key Factors in the establishment of an academia-government center of public sector administrative data and policy research

Abstract

A collaborative between the Government of New Brunswick (GNB) and the University of New Brunswick to establish a center of public sector administrative data and policy research was envisioned in 2012. Subsequent work between the parties led to the establishment of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) in 2014.
 Academia-government partnerships are not unique in Canada, however what sets this apart is: 1) the legislative approach used to support research, 2) scope of administrative data made available, 3) value placed on anonymized linked data, 4) governance overseeing the partnership, and 5) measures taken to ensure the protection of citizens’ data.
 In 2017, the New Brunswick Act Respecting Research received proclamation. This Act serves to provide clarity and addresses gaps in access and use of personal / health data for research. The Act has opened the doors for NB-IRDT with data owners of public sector organizations. NB-IRDT may now receive pseudonymous personal data from any public sector program collecting personal information.
 The partnership is governed by several advisory committees each serving a different role in overseeing the growth of NB-IRDT; overall direction setting being led by a panel of Deputy Ministers and the Clerk (the senior ranking civil servant in GNB.)
 The collaboration is well positioned to support public policy research and fosters the use of evidence-based information in the development of government programs and services. The partnership has also helped to encourage new and innovative thinking within GNB about the value of linkable data to support decision-making.

Healthcare Service Use for Mood and Anxiety Disorders Following Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Cohort Study of the Role of Neighbourhood Socioenvironmental Characteristics in a Largely Rural Population

“…Because of the universality of healthcare coverage for all medically necessary services, the data comprised a complete enumeration of the eligible population (apart from full-time members of the Canadian Forces and federal inmates, who have federal healthcare coverage). The administrative health datasets were made available for research use through a legislated data sharing agreement with the Government of New Brunswick in the secure computing environment of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT), located at the University of New Brunswick [18]. Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the Research Ethics Board of the University of New Brunswick (REB #2017-076), as part of a larger investigation into factors affecting chronic disease prevention and management using linked administrative datasets.…”

Characterizing social and policy determinants of hospital length of stay among paediatric inpatients with diabetes using linked population-based data

“…The result of a government-academic collaboration, the launch of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) in 2015 allowed for the availability of multiple linkable administrative datasets for research purposes from different government departments and public bodies [ 28 , 29 ]. At the time of the present analysis, linkable health administrative datasets were available capturing de-identified information on residents eligible for NB Medicare, hospital discharge abstracts, and NB-IPP applications and claims.…”