Phase 2 COVID-19: utilising near real-time electronic general practice data to establish effective care and best-practice policy

Start Date

4 November 2022

End Date

24 May 2024

Project Participants

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Status: Completed

Tags: chronic disease management, COVID-19, data analytics, general practice, healthcare data, long COVID, population health, primary care, primary health networks (PHNs)

Opportunity

In Phase 1, the COVID-19 – utilising near real-time electronic general practice data to establish effective care and best-practice policy project identified the impacts of COVID across a range of measures, and provided the foundation for examining the effect of Long COVID.

Long COVID emerged as a significant health system challenge, yet there was limited evidence from Australian general practice to guide diagnosis, treatment and policy. General practitioners (GPs) required practical evidence and support to identify and manage patients experiencing persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection.

In Phase 2, the project brought together researchers, PHNs and a digital health technology partner to harness near real-time clinical data to help better understand the impact of long COVID on patients and the primary care system.

Project Objectives

The project sought to generate evidence from near real-time electronic general practice data to support effective care and best-practice policy for long COVID. Through collaboration with PHNs, clinicians and Outcome Health as the technology partner, the project aimed to improve identification of long COVID, help with understanding patterns of presentation and management of long COVID, and build a stronger evidence base for clinical and health system decision making for the management of this emerging issue.

Publications

Final Outcomes

Researchers analysed data drawn from over 900 Australian general practices and developed enhanced approaches to classifying and recording long COVID. Stakeholder workshops identified key challenges in diagnosis and management, leading to practical recommendations for clinicians and policymakers. The project produced peer-reviewed publications and new clinical evidence for long COVID and post-COVID care.

Impact and Benefits

The project strengthened Australia’s capability to use near real-time primary care data for public health research and policy development. Findings improved understanding of long COVID risk factors, symptom profiles and care experiences while supporting the development of more consistent approaches to diagnosis and management.

The work allowed the team at Outcome Health to make changes to their mapping algorithm, in collaboration with clinician experts, to ensure GPs have access to an updated and more accurate clinical classification when managing people with long COVID. These changes were deployed across the POLAR platform involving almost 2,000 practices across the eastern seaboard of Australia.

The work has also informed ongoing research, contributed to national collaborations and demonstrated how digital health data infrastructure can generate timely evidence for emerging healthcare challenges.