Administrative databases are a collection of information that are routinely gathered for purposes other than research but prove to be a powerful research tool. For example, the data we used to examine physician visits wasn’t collected to analyze why people visit physicians, but so the physicians could be paid for their services.

When using administrative data, linkages can be made across different data sets allowing for cross-service research. Linkages also allow us to look across several years of data, providing a useful tool for longitudinal research. For example, we can look at how many physician visits over five years were for respiratory related illness, or we can examine the types of medications dispensed after each visit.

Over the last three decades, researchers at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy(MCHP) have developed the Population Health Research Data Repository (Repository) . The repository is a comprehensive collection of administrative, registry, survey and other databases describing how Manitobans use the health care system. It was developed to describe and explain patterns of health care use and profiles of residents’ health and illness. Because it contains not only Ministry of Health data, but also data from the Ministries of Education and Family Services, inter-sectoral research across areas such as health care, education, and social services is facilitated. This repository has become a model for research using linked databases.

A supercourse lecture from the year 2000, Studying Health and Health Care presents an overview of MCHP’s population-based approach to health research.