OTTAWA - The feds will give another $238.7 million over three years to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) for health care data collection.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the funding will help CIHI gather information to be used to inform health policy and management. The last federal funding agreement with the non-profit organization lasted for five years but was up for renewal.

CIHI pulls together information about the operation of Canada's health care system, costs, spending, and resources. One of its central functions is tracking how many Canadians are admitted to hospital every year, what they're hospitalized for, the average cost of procedures and how factors vary from province to province.

CIHI was founded in 1994 and is funded by federal, provincial and territorial governments. The feds provide about 85% of the organization's lifeblood.

"This (funding announcement) is especially important as governments consider how to move forward with health care reform," Agulkkaq said.

While NDP health critic Libby Davies applauds the funding renew for CIHI, she says the minister is using "empty words" to discuss renewing health accords with the provinces and territories.

"Her actions show they have done nothing to follow up from the 2004 health accords where the federal government committed to make progress and to take action," Davies said. "The current accords are going to run out in 2014 "¦and there's a complete failure on the federal end of not showing leadership.