Health researchers and decision-makers understand that comprehensive data is needed to help inform research, policy and funding questions to support pregnancy, birth and child health care. This can only be accomplished through access to patient information over multiple care systems. However, researchers and health care decision-makers alike need to feel confident in the level of risk in the data shared.
Established in 2009, the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) is one of Canada’s largest registries integrating information on pregnancy,
birth and newborn care, including screening tests. Approximately 140,000 maternal records are added to the system per year. Overall, BORN has 1 million records for Ontario births in the BORN Information System (BIS). As of March 31, 2014, data has come from 97 hospitals providing obstetrical services, 44 Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs)/Special Care Nurseries (SCNs), 86 Midwifery Practice Groups (MPGs), 36 fertility centers (Canada), 12 Family Health Teams (FHTs) and 5 prenatal screening labs in Ontario, and Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO).
