Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Services
Project Details
The Challenge
The Australian health and medical research landscape currently faces a significant challenge: while vast amounts of valuable health data exist, it is often siloed, difficult to find, and of inconsistent quality. For researchers, this means it is not currently possible to efficiently conduct large-scale, multi-institutional studies. This fragmentation slows down vital research, hinders collaboration, and limits the translation of data into evidence-based medical and policy decisions.
The Response
An opportunity lies in creating a cohesive national data ecosystem through the Australian Health Data Evidence Network (AHDEN). To succeed, AHDEN needs to be supported by strong underpinning services. This project directly addresses the challenge by developing and deploying three foundational services built on open-source standards, including Apache Superset and PostgreSQL:
- The AHDEN OMOP Explorer: Enables researchers to discover OMOP datasets.
- The Quality Explorer: Allows researchers to assess and understand the quality and reliability of the available data.
- The Resource Explorer: Provides a catalogue of available data mappings, shared code including disease phenotypes and other resources across the network.
The ultimate aim is to significantly enhance data accessibility, quality, and reusability for health research, in line with the FAIR principles—making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Success will be measured by the full deployment and operationalisation of these three services by June 2028, fully integrated within AHDEN and actively used by the research community to accelerate collaborative health research and improve medical decision-making across Australia.
Who will Benefit?
The primary beneficiaries of this project include:
- Health and Medical Researchers at universities, research institutes, hospitals and state health authorities who will gain powerful new tools to conduct their work more effectively.
- Healthcare Providers and Clinicians who will benefit from the translation of research findings into improved clinical practice and patient care.
- Government and Health Policy Makers who will have access to better evidence for shaping national health policy.
- The Australian Public, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of a more efficient and impactful health research ecosystem leading to better health outcomes.
Target Outcomes
The successful delivery of this project will result in the following key outcomes:
- Delivery of an integrated portal for the display of disease phenotypes, data quality, and vocabulary mappings
- Increased speed and efficiency of health research by reducing the time it takes for researchers to discover, access, and analyse relevant datasets
- Enhanced data quality and trustworthiness by providing standardised tools for data partners and researchers to assess and report on the quality of their data
- A more collaborative national research environment by providing the shared infrastructure and tools necessary for multi-institutional studies
- Improved evidence-based decision-making for clinicians and policymakers, driven by more robust and timely research findings.
Timeframe
April 2026 - June 2028
Project Partners
Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)
Project Updates
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