Development of a population based patient cancer data warehouse from multiple electronic health record systems

ObjectiveCancer is a significant cause of death globally. Effective management requires use of real-world data to inform treatment and planning. This demands improvements in data management to support healthcare delivery, research, and patient outcomes. Electronic health records (EHR) offer a potential solution yet integrating and interpreting the data poses challenges. To address this we developed Data Environment for Cancer Inquiries and Decisions or DECIDe. DECIDe is a cancer data warehouse consolidating patient data from multiple systems in use at Alberta Health Services (AHS).MethodsDECIDe's development began with stakeholder engagement and requirements gathering followed by design. The warehouse includes landing, staging, analysis, and reporting schemas that facilitate integration and transformation. Primary EHR, cancer registry, and legacy EHR data were extracted, transformed, and loaded into DECIDe.ResultsDECIDe integrated 2,100+ tables into 36 analysis tables with data from 1,055,186 unique patients. Integration exceeded 93% across all data sources demonstrating robust consolidation. DECIDe's structured format enables efficient storage, retrieval, and analysis, laying the foundation for comprehensive reporting and analytics.ConclusionDECIDe addresses challenges in managing healthcare data, supporting analytics into cancer trends and treatment outcomes. Unique to Canadian healthcare DECIDe provides a comprehensive view of cancer care, enhancing decision-making and research opportunities.