Developing a National Primary Health Care Data Collection

Nationally consistent primary health care data is a known information gap for effective population health monitoring, research, policy, and planning. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is working to address this gap by developing processes for the governance, standardisation, collection, analysis and reporting of primary health care data within Australia. This work will ultimately form a National Primary Health Care Data Collection (NPHCDC).

Strong foundations to support the input and extraction of primary health care data are essential to inform evidence-based decisions about the delivery of primary health care in Australia. The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report notes that investment in a nationally consistent data collection has the potential to lift the performance of the whole health system by enabling targeted interventions that will ultimately deliver better health outcomes.

The vision for and value of the NPHCDC is that it will:

  • fill existing data and information gaps relating to primary health care
  • be an accessible and value-added source of information for policy makers, researchers and the public, and support the evidence base underpinning research and policy, including primary health care reform
  • be enduring, secure, protective of data integrity, and include coherent and relevant analytical and reporting outputs that are underpinned by transparent data governance and standards
  • enable analysis and outcome reporting and be inclusive and reflective of the breadth of primary health care data and practice.

Initial work on the NPHCDC will focus on foundations required for the collection, analysis and reporting of data from general practice and from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs). Future developments will aim to increase the:

  • scope of the collection (to include, for example, data on allied health and/or urgent care clinics)
  • quality of the collection (with the eventual implementation of digital standards through SPARKED/Fast Healthcare Interoperable Resources (FHIR)
  • uses for the collection (including data linkage)
  • depth of the collection (by increasing the quality and quantity of variables in the collection).  

Ongoing close engagement with partners and stakeholders will ensure the value and utility of the NPHCDC in the broader primary health care data environment. These partners and stakeholders include: 

  • federal and state/territory governments
  • Primary Health Networks (PHNs)
  • general practices
  • ACCHOs
  • allied health
  • professional bodies
  • research organisations
  • software vendors
  • health consumers.

Importantly, the NPHCDC will not attempt to duplicate existing data collections and reporting or compete with established governance arrangements. The AIHW aims to use existing frameworks, infrastructure and governance processes, and will align with existing standards to ensure comparability and interoperability.

Explore the links below to learn about current NPHCDC activities: 

Partner and stakeholder engagement Data governance Data model and data standards Data demonstration projects