Review and evaluation of Australian information about primary health care: a focus on general practice (AIHW)

released: 10 Dec 2008 media release

Primary health care services are generally the first port of call when Australians need health care. Services provided through general practice are the core of Australia's primary health-care system, and it is vital that accurate, reliable and timely information about these services is available to support policy and practice decisions. Although several national and regional data collections contain information relevant to general practice, few sources provide comprehensive information that can be used to assess the value, quality and outcomes of the care provided. This leads to significant gaps in our understanding of the performance and effectiveness of the Australian primary health-care system. This report presents the results of a critical evaluation of Australian data collections relating to general practice services. It describes the usefulness of these data collections for meeting priority information needs, and recommends strategies to address data gaps and limitations. The report also outlines methods currently being used to collect general practice data electronically, and establishes options for further investigation.

ISBN 978 1 74024 855 6; Cat. no. HWI 103; 168pp.; Out of print

Full publication

Publication table of contents

Preliminary material (164KB PDF)
- Half title and verso pages
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Executive summary
  - Main findings
  - Recommendations
Body sections
1. Background and purpose (134KB PDF)
  - What is primary health care?
  - The need for data about primary health care
  - The e-health agenda
  - Aim, scope and structure of this report
2. Review of current paper-based, administrative and CATI data collections (311KB PDF)
  - GP-patient encounter collections
  - Population health survey collections
  - Administrative collections
  - Other surveys and research collections
  - Other collections
3. Electronic collection of GP data (394KB PDF)
  - Electronic collection of GP data overseas
  - Australian computer use in primary care
  - Current Australian electronic general practice data collections
  - Past and future collections
4. Criteria-based evaluation of existing data collections (147KB PDF)
  - Stakeholder information needs
  - Criteria development
  - Results of the evaluation
  - Strengths and limitations of the existing data
5. Scenario-based evaluation of existing data collections (140KB PDF)
  - What is a scenario?
  - Scenario 1: Paediatric asthma
  - Scenario 2: Influenza vaccination
6. Summary and recommendations (149KB PDF)
  - Evaluation results
  - Data collection principles
  - The transition to an electronic collection
  - Recommendations for progressing towards national electronic collection
End matter (459KB PDF)
- Appendixes
  1. Primary care data and information needs discussion starter
  2. Participants in consultations and surveys
  3. Comparison of data collections
  4. Results of criteria testing
  5. Electronic collections survey
- References
- List of tables
- List of figures

Recommended citation

AIHW 2008. Review and evaluation of Australian information about primary health care: a focus on general practice. Cat. no. HWI 103. Canberra: AIHW.

Review and evaluation of Australian information about primary health care: a focus on general practice

Full publication

Publication table of contents

Recommended citation

In this section