The Long-Term Care (LTC) Data Cooperative provides researchers only the data required to execute their study aims as approved by their IRB, and as described in their Data Use Agreement(s) with the LTC Data Cooperative and, if using CMS-linked data, the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
Standard data access is available at no cost to the researcher. This is the level of access that most observational studies will require. Standard data access includes the following:
- Use of the electronic health record (EHR) data domain files and CMS linked data files described in the Data Dictionary(ies) that the researcher is approved to use under their Data Use Agreement(s)
- Restriction of EHR data files by facility type (i.e. skilled nursing facility and/or assisted living community) with no further customization
- Concurrent access to maximum two EHR datasets linked with CMS data (e.g. initial EHR dataset and most recent)
- Monthly updates of the EHR data files
- Quarterly updates of the CMS linked data files if requested and approved under the Data Use Agreement(s)
- Access to the secure virtual environment for all study team members
- Access to programming software in the virtual environment including SAS, Stata, R, Python
- Standard Help Desk technical support
Requests for the LTC Data Cooperative to produce a customized study cohort will incur costs to the researcher. Cohort customization includes requests that the LTC Data Cooperative restrict the EHR data by specific variables such as demographic category, diagnosis, medications, and/or other clinical variables; or by facility. Because interventional studies will, by default, require a subset of facilities, all interventional studies will incur some costs. Please refer to “View Cost of Additional Services” below for a detailed breakdown.
Requests to merge on study-specific, facility-specific data collected as part of a study will incur costs to the researcher. Facility names and addresses are blinded in the LTC Data Cooperative data. Proof of facility consent to participate in a study is required to match study-collected data to a facility-level ID.
View Cost of Additional Services