COVID-19 – utilising near real-time electronic general practice data to establish effective care and best-practice policy

Start Date

1 July 2020

End Date

30 June 2022

Project Participants

Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network, Gippsland Primary Health Network, Macquarie University, Outcome Health, South East Melbourne Primary Health Network

Status: Completed

Tags: aged care, cancer, chronic disease management, COVID-19, data analytics, diabetes, disease surveillance, general practice, healthcare data, pathology, population health, primary care, primary health networks (PHNs), telehealth, virtual care

Opportunity 

The COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent need for timely, reliable evidence to help governments, Primary Health Networks (PHNs), and clinicians understand how healthcare delivery was changing in general practice. Traditional reporting mechanisms could not provide the speed or granularity required to monitor evolving patterns of care, telehealth adoption, preventative screening, pathology testing, prescribing, and the effects of the pandemic on vulnerable populations. This project sought to harness near real-time electronic general practice (GP) data to provide actionable insights for policy and healthcare decision-making. 

Project Objectives  

The project used de-identified electronic general practice data from participating PHNs and practices, available from an innovative, secure, and comprehensive digital health platform (POLAR Explorer), to establish a near real-time reporting capability on the impacts of COVID-19. The predictive geo-spatial analytics dashboard provided data and insights to the diagnosis, treatment and medications prescribed to patients with COVID-19. 

Researchers then generated evidence on the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on diagnosis, treatment, medication prescribing, preventative care, pathology testing, and service utilisation, which supported clinicians, PHNs, and policymakers in responding to the pandemic. 

The project successfully delivered: 

  • A near real-time geospatial reporting framework to support decision-makers, including COVID-19 dashboards, vaccination reporting, telehealth monitoring, and hospitalisation risk reporting. 
  • A suite of evidence-based COVID-19 impact measures for monitoring the quality and effectiveness of care in general practice. 
  • A series of COVID-19 General Practice Snapshot reports that provided rapid evidence dissemination to PHNs and clinicians to support management of patients with COVID-19 at the time when it was most needed.  
  • Research outputs including peer-reviewed publications with new evidence on telehealth uptake, pathology testing, cancer screening, chronic disease monitoring, aged care service delivery, and prescribing patterns during the pandemic. 

The project also provided the foundation for examining the effect of Long COVID in a follow-on project.

The project demonstrated the value of near real-time general practice data in supporting evidence-based public health responses. Findings informed PHN planning, quality improvement initiatives, population health monitoring, and understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare access and delivery. Beyond COVID-19, the project established approaches that can be applied to future disease surveillance, health system monitoring, and digitally enabled population health management. 

The work also contributed to the evolution of Outcome Health’s POLAR analytics platform, resulting in enhanced dashboards, vaccination reporting, hospitalisation risk tools, and population health analytics used across more than 1,200 general practices.  

Read more in the Impact Case Study: Optimising COVID-19 and long COVID care by GPs using near real time electronic PHN GP data: a collaborative action-research approach 

Integrity, Excellence,
Teamwork and Authenticity

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