A new, near real-time data platform for Manitoba’s health-care system was announced Thursday, February 13.

The project received funding support through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research. CIHR and the province of Manitoba will each invest $600,000 a year over four years, for a total of $4.8-million, to support work on the project

MindSet (Manitoba INtegrated Data Set) will lead the integration of Manitoba’s vast collection of clinical health data into a cohesive near real-time province-wide health data platform. When these data are fully integrated, MindSet will be the most complete and provincially representative health database in Canada.

What does this mean for kidney health care?

With access to current data for patients using various health services in Manitoba, opportunities to identify and treat kidney disease are increased. This means people with risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure can be identified and monitored for risk of kidney failure with a goal to intervene and provide the necessary referrals to prevent or delay further kidney damage.

There will also be broader opportunities to identify others at risk of kidney failure to help find and treat kidney disease in earlier stages. Managing kidney disease in an earlier stage means more options for keeping kidneys as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

One of the trial projects included in the MindSet initiative to demonstrate uses for the data platform is being led by MRP nephrologist and Chronic Disease Innovation Centre Research Director Dr. Paul Komenda. Home First will look at at utilizing the data platform to monitor kidney disease progression and allow for chances to educate and smoothly transition people with late stage kidney disease to their next needed level of care. In cases of eventual kidney failure, this includes maximizing opportunities to transition individuals onto home dialysis versus hospital dialysis. Home dialysis allows people, who may have otherwise had to travel several times a week or relocate, to manage their own dialysis treatments in the comfort of their own home.

Read more about the project here.

To hear more about the project, the stakeholders and the principle investigators you can view this presentation: