REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 11, 2025
FROM
ANDREW GOLDFRACH, ARMC Chief Executive Officer, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title
Non-Financial Data Transfer and Use Agreement with The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Irvine Campus for Access to De-identified Patient Data for Research
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Data Transfer and Use Agreement with The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Irvine Campus for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center to provide de-identified patient data to The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Irvine Campus, for a research study, effective March 11, 2025 through March 10, 2026.
(Presenter: Andrew Goldfrach, ARMC Chief Executive Officer, 580-6150)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost) as the provision of de-identified patient data to The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Irvine Campus (UCI) is non-financial in nature.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Approval of the Data Transfer and Use Agreement (Agreement) with UCI will enable Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) to provide patient data to UCI for research. Before providing the data, it is de-identified, which is the process of removing or altering identifying information (such as name, date of birth, etc.) from data so that a person’s identity can no longer be determined. This will ultimately enable healthcare entities to better serve possible at-risk communities and better understand how healthcare entities can improve continuity of care while providing improved services to county residents as a whole.
The aim of the research study is to evaluate the overall injury severity score (ISS), which is an established way to standardize the severity of traumatic injuries of patients discharged from the Emergency Department (ED), and hypothesize the significant variabilities amongst different trauma centers in terms of the ISS. As a result, ARMC would like to determine if there are any specific demographics or injury profile variables that predict patients with high ISS who are able to be discharged from the ED by comparing variability amongst different trauma centers in terms of the ISS of patients.
ARMC staff will be active investigators in the study, will have access to the data, and will be involved in analyzing the data. ARMC recommends approval of this Agreement, as participation in this research study through the provision of critical de-identified data will broaden the general knowledge relating to trauma patients that will, in turn, allow for the implementation of better practices to promote the improvement in patient care.
PROCUREMENT
Not applicable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Charles Phan, Supervising Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on January 24, 2025; Purchasing (Veronica Pedace, Buyer III, 387-2464) on January 21, 2025; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance and Budget Officer, 580-3165) on February 14, 2025; Finance (Jenny Yang, Administrative Analyst, 387-4884) on February 20, 2025; and County Finance and Administration (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on February 21, 2025.