Difficulties Obtaining Raw Data for Two Studies Involving New York City's Taxpayer-Funded Public Hospital System

Why is this so hard?

In theory, obtaining raw data from studies involving taxpayer-funded entities should be fairly straightforward and go something like this:

Me: Hi! May I have the following data from your study? Excel file preferred.

Researcher: Of course! See attached and let me know if you have further questions!

Unfortunately, studies involving New York City agencies have not been that easy. For example, when I asked the Chief Medical Officer of the Fire Department of New York for data from a 911 call/ambulance dispatch study earlier this year, he said, “At this time, we cannot provide this.”

I’ve had similar difficulties involving studies published by NYC Health + Hospitals Corporation (HHC) employees.¹ Here I briefly describe the data I wanted from each study, why I wanted the data, and share my emails with the corresponding author.

Study 1

A Snapshot of Emergency Department Volumes in the “Epicenter of the Epicenter” of the COVID-19 Pandemic reports emergency department visits and admissions from the ED for Elmhurst Hospital in spring 2020 versus spring 2019.

I’m interested in the data because a) the ED visit data in Figure 1 conflict with data I later obtained from the NYC Department of Health for zip code 11373 - where Elmhurst is the sole hospital, as far as I can tell - and b) I want to overlay the raw number of daily admissions underlying the ratio in Figure 2 with other data I obtained for Elmhurst from NYC HHC.²

December 4, 2022 at 8:42 p.m. (U.S. Central)

Good day, Ms. Feldman.

I’m writing with respect to this study on which you were lead author: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7443167/pdf/main.pdf

May I obtain the underlying/raw data for figures 1 and 2, preferably in Excel?

Warm regards,
Jessica Hockett, PhD

She replied:

December 5, 2022 at 8:39 a.m. (U.S. Central)

Hi Dr. Hockett,

We're happy to share, but wonder if you could let us know a bit about why you are interested in the data and what you would plan to do with it? Cc'ing my PI [JH: Principal Investigator], Dr. Bentley, here as well to keep everyone in the loop.

Thanks so much!

Best,

Nikki

I responded:

December 5, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. (U.S. Central)

Good morning!

I want to compare it/integrate with data for the hospital from NYC DOHMH and NY DOH that’s publicly available. I also want to see the raw numbers for Figure 2. Rates are informative, but the number of visits & admissions in 2019 vs 2020 gives a different view.

I have no specific plans for the data at this time. 

Elmhurst’s status as a public hospital, as well as Journal of Emergency Medicine’s guidelines for research data availability, suggest the data should be readily available.

Thanks for the quick response!

Jessica

I waited nearly two weeks before reaching out again:

December 17, 2022 at 10:57 a.m.

Hello, Ms. Feldman.

Just circling back regarding these data.

Please provide at update at your earliest convenience.

Best,

Jessica

I did not receive another response.

I emailed Ms. Feldman again yesterday and hope to hear from her soon.

UPDATE - I did not receive a reply to my May 27, 2024 email.

From: Jessica Hockett Subject: Request for data in study
Date: May 27, 2024 at 9:06:48 PM CDT
To: "Feldman, Nicola"
Cc: Suzanne Bentley

Good day, Dr. Feldman.

I am writing to request the underlying data for Figures 1 and 2 in this study on which you are lead and corresponding author:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7443167/

Thank you kindly,

Jessica Hockett

---

Study 2

Outcomes of COVID-19 Admissions in the New York City Public Health System and Variations by Hospitals and Boroughs During the Initial Pandemic Response reports COVID-related variables for all eleven hospitals in NYC HHC. The graphs and tables aren’t well-presented (in my opinion) and I would like to compare data I later obtained from NYC DOH and HHC with the data in the study.

January 12, 2023 at 11:14 p.m. (U.S. Central)

Good day, Mr. Engdahl.

Can you please provide me with all raw data underlying the graphs and tables in this study? https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.570147/full

Thank you kindly,
Jessica Hockett, PhD

Weeks later, Engdhal replied

February 6, 2023 at 8:25 p.m. (U.S. Central)

hi

are you still interested in this and what it is ref to

The same day, I said:

February 6, 2023 at 9:42 p.m. (U.S. Central)

Hi Mr. Engdahl.

I am requesting the underlying data (preferably in Excel) for all graphs and tables in this study on which you were an author: "Outcomes of COVID-19 Admissions in the New York City Public Health System and Variations by Hospitals and Boroughs During the Initial Pandemic Response"

Please advise if I should request from another author on the study, or if you are able to provide [it].

Kind regards,

Jessica Hockett

I sent a follow-up email on March 2, 2023 and another (below) on July 8, 2023:

Good day, Mr. Engdahl.

I’m reaching back about obtaining the data from this study.

The data availability statement says, "The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.”

If there’s someone else I should contact for the data, please let me know.

Thank you,

Jessica Hockett

The February 6, 2023 response was the only reply I received from Engdahl.

I emailed him again yesterday and hope he will respond.

---

FYI: I still have not received a response from Austin Parish or John Ioannidis regarding a discrepancy involving data obtained from NYC HHC.

UPDATE: Still Attempting to Resolve NYC Hospital Data Discrepancy - Email to Austin Parish & John Ioannidis

1. NYC Health + Hospitals in the largest public hospital system in a U.S. city. It operates eleven hospitals and five skilled nursing home facilities.

2. At the time, I only had data from public databases. Since then I obtained other data from NYC HHC and NYC DOHMH.