# The missing link: electronic health record linkage across species offers opportunities for improving One Health

## TL;DR

This study shows how linking human and animal health records can help understand shared health issues across species in the same households.

## Contribution

A new method for linking human and animal health records across institutions is proposed to support One Health research.

## Key findings

- 12,115 matches were found between UCHealth patients and CSU-VHS clients.
- 29% of CSU-VHS clients were also UCHealth patients.
- The study demonstrates the feasibility of creating a Companion Care Registry for One Health research.

## Abstract

Significant opportunities for understanding the co-occurrence of conditions across species in coincident households remain untapped. We determined the feasibility of creating a Companion Care Registry (CCR) for analysis of health data from the University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) patients and their companion animals who received veterinary care at the geographically-adjacent Colorado State University Veterinary Health System (CSU-VHS).

Overall populations of the institutions were compared. Using a hybrid deterministic and probabilistic record linkage method, non-medical Personally Identifiable Information was securely matched to determine the total number of UCHealth patients within the HIPAA-compliant Health Data Compass Research Data Warehouse (2015-2024) who took a companion animal to the CSU-VHS (2019-2024).

12 115 matches were identified, indicating 29% of CSU-VHS clients were UCHealth patients.

The overlap between CSU-VHS clients and UCHealth patients underscores the potential feasibility and utility of a CCR.

This work provides a mechanism to evaluate environmental and inter-species influences on One Health.