University of California Health developed a unified, secure data set designed to make COVID-19 research easier.
Four things to know:
1. The dataset includes 460 million data points that researchers from across the health system can use to compare treatment options for COVID-19 patients. The datasets are harmonized and pre-integrated.
2. Researchers can access the systemwide data, which includes de-identified patient data from five academic health centers, after their research request is validated. The dataset includes a diverse population of all ages, medical histories, backgrounds and previous treatments.
3. The health system's dataset has hundreds of researchers that already have expressed interest in using it for projects such as understanding how telehealth is being used during the pandemic or learning more about medication selection.
4. University of California Health is also working with the National Institutes of Health ACT Network to develop open access to de-identified EHR data from academic medical centers across the U.S.
"With the scale of the pandemic, we need as many UC researchers as possible to work on treatment options," said Atul Butte, chief data scientist for the University of California Health. "Having access to this diverse data set that is already integrated may contain insights into COVID-19 that they may not find elsewhere, and can make their work more efficient. This type of dataset may provide a window into patterns they might not have otherwise been able to identify."