Hospital External Data Delivery via Medical Data Integration Center (MeDIC) and FDPG

A central task of the MeDIC is to provide medical care data to authorized internal and external users. Authorization follows the rules of the German Research Foundation (DFG), which means that access can generally be granted to all scientists who meet the required qualifications. A prerequisite for submitting an application is the completion of scientific training, typically demonstrated by a doctoral degree. When an application is approved, the process concludes with both parties signing a contract of use. Internal requests within the University Hospital Cologne (UKK) do not require a formal contract but an agreement is signed between MeDIC and the applicant. External data requests from non-UKK applicants must always be submitted via the Research Data Platform Health (FDPG). These requests undergo evaluation by the Use and Access Committee (UAC) of the Medical Faculty and the University Hospital of Cologne. Only those applications that receive a positive review from the UAC will be processed by the MeDIC. The application process for data usage depends on several factors: whether the request is internal or external, whether the data will be used for research or for healthcare purposes, and whether the data is requested solely from MeDIC Cologne or also from other MeDICs across Germany. Each of these conditions may require a different procedure for getting the data.