Please read this README.txt file before using the MH_MBS_PHN_SA4_2122.csv file.
 
This README.txt accompanies the MH_MBS_PHN_SA4_2122.csv file for the 'Mental health Medicare-subsidised services' report and contains Mental Health MBS number of patients and number of services data at the Primary Health Networks (PHN) or Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) level 2021-22.

The file is intended for loading into analytical software for further analysis. For more information on the data source and key concepts, please see https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/medicare-subsisded-services.  

The MH_MBS_PHN_SA4_2122.csv file can be imported into a number of statistical software packages including SAS, R, or read by text editors including Notepad++. It contains the following variables:
 
Financial_year: Reporting period referring to the financial year during which number of patients and services is measured.
Geographic_area_type: Refers to the PHN/SA4 of the patients location based on the postcode of the mailling address of the patients registered on their medicare card and recorded by Services Australia. Modifications were made to an Australian Bureau of Statistics correspondence to accommodate those people who use a post office box (POB) postcode. POB and mailing address postcodes were proportionately allocated to SA4 and PHN using the modified correspondence.
Geographic_area_code: Refers to the PHN/SA4 code.
Geographic_area_name: Refers to the PHN/SA4 name.
Provider_type: Refers to the MBS service provider type based on the MBS item number claimed.
Measure: Description of the measure displayed in the value column: number of patients;number of services.
Value: Contains data values. Data formats included are differentiated by the Measure column. The 'All providers' number of patients is not a sum of the individual providers types as a patient may receive medical services from multiple types of providers but is counted only once in the total. The sum of services by provider type may not equal the total for 'All providers' due to rounding. The value 'n.p.' denotes suppressed data that is not published because of small numbers, confidentiality, or other concerns about the quality of the data. Care is needed when filtering or calculating summary measures of the data, as service and patient counts are presented for different provider types as well as 'All providers'.   

The data source for this report is AIHW analysis of MBS data maintained by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.