General Practice Statistics in Australia: Pushing a Round Peg into a Square Hole

Julie Gordon, Helena Britt, Graeme C. Miller, Joan Henderson, Anthony Scott () and Christopher Harrison
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Julie Gordon: WHO Collaborating Centre for Strengthening Rehabilitation Capacity in Health Systems, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Helena Britt: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Graeme C. Miller: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Joan Henderson: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Christopher Harrison: Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: In Australia, general practice forms a core part of the health system, with general practitioners (GPs) having a gatekeeper role for patients to receive care from other health services. GPs manage the care of patients across their lifespan and have roles in preventive health care, chronic condition management, multimorbidity and population health. Most people in Australia see a GP once in any given year. Draft reforms have been released by the Australian Government that may change the model of general practice currently implemented in Australia. In order to quantify the impact and effectiveness of any implemented reforms in the future, reliable and valid data about general practice clinical activity over time, will be needed. In this context, this commentary outlines the historical and current approaches used to obtain general practice statistics in Australia and highlights the benefits and limitations of these approaches. The role of data generated from GP electronic health record extractions is discussed. A methodology to generate high quality statistics from Australian general practice in the future is presented.

Keywords: general practice; health services research; primary health care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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