Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre |Annual Report 2017–18 CASE STUDY LINKING PRIMARY CARE AND HOSPITAL DATA Patient records IS VITAL FOR IMPROVING PATIENT OUTCOMES Connecting healthcare data from primary care and hospitals is essentialto understanding the factors that can contribute to delayed diagnosis3 million and treatment, and affect patient outcomes and ongoing health issues. Poor integration of information as patients move from diagnosis in GP encounters or visits primary care to hospital-based care, and then back to their GP for post- solutions. Given that this has a clear effect on patient outcomes, it wastreatment care, has impacted the ability to identify issues and potential32 million considered a key opportunity and priority for system-level improvement. Entering the big data era through collaboration The VCCC has enabled a major collaboration involving Australia’s leading Observations university, VCCC member hospitals and an independent data sharingorganisation. This has resulted in bringing together primary care and34 million hospital data for the first time in Australia to generate a ‘big data’ platform that contains more than: •three million patient records Items of diagnosis information •32 million GP encounters or visits 8 million •34 million observations •eight million items of diagnosis information •84 million items of pathology data. Items of pathology data The VCCC Cancer Health Data Platform is set to transform the way researchers and clinicians can access and analyse routinely collectedhealth data. It will facilitate evidence-based improvements in healthcare84 million practice and policies. Investing in capacity and capability to grow skills and knowledge In February 2018, Professor Maarten J. IJzerman was appointed the Chair of Cancer Health Services Research, at University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research and Western Health. Professor IJzerman will drive a cutting-edge program to build analytical capability for data-driven research, as well as bring together data sciences and clinical expertise. Through the University of Melbourne and Professor IJzerman’s team, a collaborative research model will connect cancer clinicians and researchers with experts in data-driven research design and modern analytical tools and techniques, enabling optimal data use. 48