Important Announcements

Nondiscrimination Policy Update

Boston Medical Center Health System complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), religion, culture, physical or mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. BMCHS provides free aids and services to people with disabilities and free language services to people whose primary language is not English.

To read our full Nondiscrimination Statement, click here.

CDW: Services

The CDW for Research provides a range of services, from aggregate counts to full data extracts to collaborating with larger groups on the BUMC campus to increase their research data infrastructure.

FY23 Services

Data Extracts & Data Sets

With appropriate approvals, CDW for Research analysts provide extracts of data housed in the data warehouse for retrospective or prospective research studies. This includes cohort identification and recruitment lists, de-identified data sets, limited data sets, and individual-level identifiable data sets. The CDW for Research also combines data from multiple systems, such as crosswalking BMC EPIC clinical data with CHC OCHIN data for patients with health care encounters at BMC and CHCs.

Cohort Identification and Recruitment Lists: The CDW for Research can assist research teams in identifying cohorts of patients that meet study eligibility criteria. For example, the CDW can provide a report of patients that meet study inclusion and exclusion criteria to the research team to facilitate subject enrollment.

Data sets: The CDW for Research provides de-identified data sets, limited data sets, and identifiable data sets, either retrospectively or prospectively. For example, a research team studying acute health care utilization among patients with neck abscesses may request a data set that contains patient demographics; emergency department visit dates; in-patient admission and discharge dates; operating room information; and lab values such as the value and date of the most recent white blood cell count.

Linked data sets from multiple data sources: The CDW for Research provides data sets that combine data from multiple systems. For example, the CDW for Research analysts can crosswalk BMC EPIC clinical data with CHC OCHIN data for patients with health care encounters at BMC and CHCs.

In addition to data extracts and simple counts, the CDW for Research provides services such as:

  • Applying study cohort inclusion and exclusion criteria – potentially mitigating the need for a manual chart review
  • Assigning study IDs
  • Creating and managing master codes, with or without providing access to the study team
  • Providing subsequent data extracts for the same cohort (whether study team has a master code or not)
  • Developing recurring and automated data pulls
  • Consulting with study teams to identify robust data to answer your research question, develop budgets, complete your study IRB protocol, and/or determine if manual chart review would be required for your study.
  • Estimating the cost of a data request to assist the study team with grant proposal submission and budgeting.

Simple Count Data

The CDW for Research team can provide investigators with simple count data (aggregated data e.g., the number of hospitalized patients with pneumonia in 2018) to include in a grant application or prepare an IRB protocol submission. Simple count data are provided to investigators with the expectation that funding for further CDW for Research services are included in proposal budgets. Simple count data requests do not require IRB approval. Counts fewer than six cannot be reported due to privacy concerns.