The Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (CVDL) is a specialist data linkage unit established in 2009 with funding from the national Population Health Research Network (PHRN) and the Victorian Government.
The CVDL is based in the Victorian Agency of Health Information (VAHI) in the Department of Health.
The CVDL is an accredited Commonwealth Integrating Authority, which means that integration of high risks projects involving the Commonwealth data for statistical and research purposes is undertaken safely and securely.
The CVDL creates and maintains linkages via its Victorian Linkage Map (VLM) and the Integrated Data Resource (IDR), a de-identified linked data asset of health, human services and other administrative and clinical datasets.
The CVDL aims to:
- provide trusted population-wide linkable data to researchers and policy makers to support evidence-based insights to improve planning and service delivery, while adhering to Victorian privacy principles
- develop new data linkage capacity in Victoria and extend the capability for building a nationwide data linkage infrastructure
- facilitate and create opportunities for Victorian researchers to undertake innovative, world-class research using linkable data drawn from existing datasets.
The CVDL operating model is governed by several Acts and Regulations such as the Victorian Health Records Acts 2001, the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, Health Privacy Principles (HPP) and the Information Privacy Principles (IPP) from respective Acts.
The CVDL will provide more information on the associated costs shortly. In the meantime, to find out more about how the CVDL can assist you please email us at cvdl@health.vic.gov.au.