Fees and charges

Access charges

Data Linkage Unit

Charges usually apply for client services, linkage, geocoding or extraction requests that fall outside core activities. Each data linkage unit within the PHRN has its own independent fee structure. Funds derived from these charges assist in supporting staff and equipment used for the ongoing development of the linkage system.

The cost of linkage varies for each project. The fee is based on a number of factors, commonly including:

Data quality

Quality of person identifiers in data collections being linked
Format of data provided for linkage

Size of request and amount of linkage required

Number of records that require linkage for a project
Time period requested

The complexity of the request

Number of jurisdictions involved
Number of data collections involved
Types of datasets requested
Study design

See costs and timeframes summary for further detail on the above factors.

If you would like a quote for a grant or to scope your single jurisdiction project, please contact the Client Services Officer of the Data Linkage Unit(s) which covers the jurisdiction(s) that your data will come from. For a cross- or multi-jurisdictional linked data project, a quote can be requested via the PHRN Online Application System.

Data Custodians

Data Custodians and providers of data for data linkage projects are able to seek a fee or reimbursement of their costs incurred in supplying the data required for linkage projects.

Ethics committees

Some ethics committees may seek a fee or reimbursement of their costs for reviewing an application for linked data.

Secure Unified Research Environment (SURE)

Charges for using SURE were introduced on 1 January 2013. The fees support the operational costs of maintaining SURE and providing support services to users. Estimates of SURE access charges are calculated based on project duration, user numbers and computing resources required by users for the project. Fees indicated are exclusive of GST.

If you are preparing a grant application for a project, please send a short email to SURE with the project title, number of investigators on the research team, the expected commencement date and the expected duration of the project. The SURE Team will be happy to provide an estimate of access charges, even if your study is only in the early stages of planning. However, please note that estimates of access charges may be subject to change depending on project commencement date and finalisation of project set-up requirements.

Other secure environments

Single jurisdiction projects may be required to store and analyse linked data from a secure virtual environment nominated by the jurisdiction. There may be fees associated with data access and storage. For more information, please contact the relevant Client Services Officer of the Data Linkage Unit(s).

PHRN Access and Pricing Policy

A condition of the PHRN Funding Agreements is that there must be an access and pricing policy for the funded research infrastructure. The PHRN Access and Pricing Policy has been developed to ensure a common approach for access to linkable data available through the PHRN infrastructure, including a common approach to any charging for access.

Click here to download the Policy.